


Kenopsia

by MusicPrincess655



Series: Kenopsia and Related Stories [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mystery, Slow Burn, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-05-28 12:01:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 30,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6328033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicPrincess655/pseuds/MusicPrincess655
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kenopsia: the eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something's not Right

**Author's Note:**

> All right! Time to start another long fic! Some of you might have heard that I’m planning a long fic for omegaverse HQ!! This is that fic. I will commit to updating on Sundays, barring complications from real life. Since I already have this pretty planned out, I think I can stick to this schedule. 
> 
> It’s going to jump POVs a lot, so if I’m using their first name it’s their POV. I will also mention it at the start of a chapter. This is Asahi’s POV.

The gym was surprisingly quiet for a morning practice. It was almost eerie, compared to how the gym was usually echoing with shouts of people who were too awake too early. Asahi whipped his head around, making sure people were, in fact there.

The usual sources of most of the shouting – Kageyama and Hinata – were there alright. But they weren't shouting. Asahi hadn’t even heard them come in. They were tucked in a corner talking quietly to each other. Kageyama brushed a hand over Hinata’s shoulder in a surprisingly intimate gesture.

“Well, well, what’s this?” a snarky voice asked. Asahi looked over to see Tsukishima smirking. Apparently he was awake enough to start his daily regimen of sass. “The King and the Shrimp finally coexisting peacefully? I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Shut up, Tsukishima,” Hinata complained, but Asahi noticed that both his and Kageyama’s cheeks were dusted with red now.

“Oh? Blushing, are we? Something to hide?” Tsukishima’s shit eating grin got even wider.

“N-no,” Kageyama stammered, cheeks going even redder.

“Are you two okay?” Suga asked with his usual concern.

“You’re acting very strange,” Daichi added, drifting over in case any pack drama was about to start. Even though Spring High was finished, Daichi, Suga, and Asahi had stayed around for practices to take care of the younger members of their pack. They were a family just as much as they were a team, and Daichi and Suga were still their pack leaders even if they had technically retired. Asahi came because he couldn’t bear to leave just yet.

Asahi watched Hinata bite his lip, looking between Kageyama and the rest of the team, before throwing up his hands in a wordless shout.

“We’re dating now!” he screamed quickly. Kageyama looked like he wasn’t breathing anymore.

“Oh, you two finally figured it out? When did this happen?” Suga gushed. If possible, Hinata blushed even redder. Kageyama still wasn’t breathing, and he was starting to go pale.

“Um…last…last night,” Hinata stammered, looking over and shaking Kageyama until he started breathing again.

“Are you two scared of us?” Daichi asked. They both nodded. “You don’t have to be, half the team is dating the other half anyway.”

They both nodded again, but Asahi thought they looked less tense, starting to laugh and shout and joke with each other. Tanaka came running over, crowing his excitement at his kouhais finally getting their act together, and even the quiet beta trio of Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita came over to offer their congratulations. Something was missing though.

Asahi finally realized that Nishinoya should have been cheering as loud as Tanaka over the new announcement. The problem was, Noya wasn’t anywhere in the gym. Which was…weird. Noya was usually the first at morning practice, except for Kageyama and Hinata. He was a natural morning person.

Asahi thought about calling his boyfriend to make sure he was okay, but if Noya was rushing to school, Asahi calling would probably just distract him. He decided to keep it to himself, shrugging when Daichi asked where Noya was, at least until the end of practice.

However, by the end of practice there was still no sign of Noya, and Asahi wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. Even the oblivious duo of Kageyama and Hinata asked Asahi about where Noya was.

“He’s not sick, is he? Or going into heat?” Daichi asked. Asahi shook his head.

“I’ll call and ask if he’s sick, but he’s not due to go into heat for months,” Asahi sighed. He didn’t mention it, but if Noya was sick it was weird that he hadn’t sent a text.

Asahi was sent to voicemail after only one ring.

“That’s weird. His phone’s off,” Asahi said. He tried to ignore the growing worry in his chest. He had no reason to think anything was off yet.

“Try him again later, maybe he forgot to plug it in because he’s sick,” Tanaka suggested. Asahi nodded and slid the phone back into his pocket.

He tried to ignore the worry roiling in his chest for the rest of the day, but it was hard. Everything felt shifted and off, ever so slightly eerie. It didn’t even make sense. Noya wasn’t in the same class as him, he didn’t even see Noya much throughout the school day. Still, when lunch time rolled around and Noya wasn’t at his classroom door, dragging him outside to eat, Asahi really started to fret.

“ _But what if he’s really sick?_ ”

Shh, Noya will be fine.

“ _But what if something happened on the way to school?_ ”

Noya knows how to get to school, he’s done it for two years with no problems.

“ _But what if someone tried to hurt him?_ ”

Noya is fine, he knows how to take care of himself.

“ _But he’s still an omega, and he’s so_ small, _what if something happened?_ ”

Asahi went round and round in circles in his own mind, trying to talk himself out of worrying while part of his brain kept supplying “what if” scenarios. He was practically in a tizzy by the time he went to afternoon practice, and Noya not being there only made it worse. He tried to call Noya again, but again went straight to voicemail.

“This is getting weird,” Daichi said after practice, with still no Noya in sight. “Noya would try to play on his deathbed, he’d have to be really sick to not show up all day.”

“Has anything been off with him lately?” Suga asked Asahi. Asahi had been so busy worrying that he hadn’t thought of that obvious question, but now that he did…

“He’s been strange in our study sessions,” Ennoshita said quietly. “He keeps making comments about how if he ran away he wouldn’t have to take his exams.”

“Well, yeah, but he’s probably just stressed that finals for the year are coming up, all of us are stressed,” Tanaka said, dropping an arm around Ennoshita’s shoulders.

“I’m sure he is, but I’ve never seen him so…listless about exams before. Usually he’s all cheer and confidence in his wrong answers,” Ennoshita said thoughtfully. All eyes turned to Asahi, who jumped at the sudden attention.

“Well? Has Noya been okay lately?” Daichi asked. Asahi quivered under his intense stare.

“I mean, yeah, he’s been stressed about exams. Once he even made a comment about how we should elope and become travelling hobos, but I think that was just…a joke,” Asahi started to quail as Daichi’s glare grew more intense.

“You didn’t think to mention this earlier?” Tanaka asked.

“I thought it was a joke!” Asahi protested.

“But would Noya really just leave without Asahi?” Suga asked, more to himself than anyone else.

“I can see him being a travelling hobo instead of doing his exams, he’s stubborn,” Ennoshita said.

“But without Asahi?” Suga asked. “I mean, they’re practically mated. Noya wouldn’t just leave without telling anyone, would he?”

“We should go to his house and check on him,” Hinata piped up. “We could even bring him soup!”

“Dumbass, if Nishinoya-san is really sick, he won’t want us all over his house,” Kageyama scoffed.

“Well, just Asahi should go, then,” Daichi said. At Asahi’s terrified look, Daichi rolled his eyes. “What? He’s your omega, go take care of him. You’re an alpha, act like it.”

Asahi nodded. Seeing Noya, even a sick Noya, would make him feel better and maybe quiet all the worry that was bouncing around his brain.

He split from the team, walking in the opposite direction of his house. He and Noya came from the opposite directions to go to school, and Noya had once complained about how they couldn’t have the cliché romance trope of walking each other home every day. Asahi smiled a little at the memory.

He got to Noya’s house, knocking on the door. He’d been here plenty of times; he and Noya practically lived at each other’s houses on the weekends.

“Asahi-kun!” Noya’s mother looked delighted as she flung open the door. “Have you brought Yuu home? It’s getting late. Would you like to stay for dinner?”

Part of Asahi’s brain thought, as it always did when he came over, that Noya had inherited his enthusiasm from his mother. However, most of it was focusing on her words.

“Bring him…home? He’s not here?” Asahi asked. He was getting a bad feeling in his stomach, worse even than when they played official matches.

“No? I thought you walked him home from school,” Nishinoya-san said, narrowing her eyes. “He didn’t skip school again, did he?”

“I haven’t seen him at all today, but he wouldn’t just skip practice,” Asahi said. His stomach physically hurt. “His phone keeps going straight to voicemail. We thought he was sick, I wanted to check on him.”

“He left the same time he always does to get to morning practice,” Nishinoya-san gasped, her eyes going wide with alarm. “Asahi-kun, where is Yuu? Where is my son?”

“I don’t know!” Asahi whimpered. There were definite tears forming in his eyes and a part of him was glad Noya’s mother liked him so much, because he was about to cry in front of her.

He pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar number.

“What’s up?” Daichi asked casually. “Calling for tips on taking care of your sick omega?”

“D-daichi,” Asahi stammered, and he was definitely crying now.

“Asahi. What’s wrong,” Daichi’s voice instantly lost its teasing edge and became the dependable captain voice he used when the team was losing hope. The voice of a head alpha.

“N-noya’s not here,” Asahi hiccupped. “His mother says he left for practice the same time as always.”

“What are you saying?”

“Noya’s gone, Daichi, and no one knows where he is!”


	2. One by One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a note on how pack dynamics work in my omegaverse. Packs tend to form at the same time as teams. Packs formed in high school tend to last past high school, although not always in full. In a pack, there are usually two leaders, a head alpha and a head omega. They’re not always a mated pair, but they usually are. For example, Suga and Daichi are head omega and alpha of Karasuno. Suga isn’t head omega because he’s Daichi’s mate, but because the team agrees he deserves to be there. They’re co-pack leaders. Sometimes packs will have a third head member, usually a beta. Asahi is not a co-pack leader, although Suga and Daichi do give his opinions a lot of weight because they both respect him.  
> This is in Yamaguchi’s POV.

Tadashi was a quiet member of the pack. Even though he was an alpha, he never had a large presence. So instead, Tadashi watched.

The team had been strained the past few days. As soon as Nishinoya had been missing for twenty four hours, the team had called the police. They had asked questions of everyone, but mostly of an increasingly frantic Asahi. However, after hearing about Nishinoya’s changes in behavior and Asahi’s own admission that Nishinoya had asked him to elope and had become distant from his boyfriend, the police concluded that it was likely Nishinoya had left on his own. After all, there was little evidence of anything else happening to him. The police promised to look into it, but told them not to get their hopes up.

They were convinced that Nishinoya had just left.

This, of course, was a blow to Asahi. He became more frantic, trying desperately to reach Nishinoya any way he could, even if to just say goodbye. His panic was starting to distract the rest of the pack.

At least, that’s what Tadashi thought at first. His unease was just because Asahi was so overtly uneasy. But then Tadashi realized. Tsukki wasn’t in the gym yet.

While Tsukki wasn’t always early like Hinata or Kageyama always were, he usually was on time. Tadashi was used to feeling Tsukki’s presence at his side, and not having it was…unsettling. Tadashi nervously looked at his phone, hoping for a new message from his boyfriend. No such luck.

Tadashi shook his head. He was too dependent on Tsukki sometimes, not at all like an independent alpha. He and Tsukki had been best friends since childhood, dating since middle school. It hadn’t been serious, though, until they’d decided to go to the same high school and realized that this relationship was going to last. Tadashi had no doubts that he loved Tsukki, but he hadn’t thought the prickly omega felt the same.

Still, Tsukki missing practice wasn’t necessarily a cause for alarm. He could’ve overslept. He could be sick. He could be catching up on homework. There were probably a thousand valid reasons Tsukki wasn’t here right now. Tadashi was just a worry wart, he needed to calm down.

Tsukki wasn’t in class, though, or at after school practice. Now Tadashi was worried. He tried to call Tsukki, just to check in. Tsukki would probably scoff, telling Tadashi about his cold. Tsukki was fine, he had to be fine.

The call went straight to voicemail.

Tadashi felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. This was exactly what had happened to Asahi with Nishinoya, but now it was happening to Tadashi. This couldn’t be happening, but it was. Tadashi felt light headed.

“Yamaguchi? What’s wrong?” Sugawara asked. The motherly head omega had noticed Tadashi having a minor meltdown on the way out of the club room.

“Tsukki’s not…picking up his phone,” Tadashi stammered. Sugawara’s open face hardened instantly.

“Did it ring?” he asked.

“No. It…it went straight to voicemail.” Tadashi’s voice dropped to a whisper. Sugawara instantly put an arm around Tadashi’s shoulders.

“Daichi,” he called. Daichi turned at the call. “Tsukishima’s not answering his phone. It’s going straight to voicemail.”

Daichi’s face hardened just like Sugawara’s had, and he set his shoulders in what Tadashi liked to think of as his “captain pose”, perfect for a strong head alpha.

“We’re going to his house,” Daichi said firmly.

“All of us?” Tadashi asked. “What if he’s just sick?”

“Then we’ll apologize. I’m not taking any chances after Noya went missing,” Daichi sighed.

The team walked in resolute silence to the Tsukishima household. Tadashi noticed Hinata hanging closer to Kageyama’s side, holding his hand. He noticed Tanaka rubbing his hand between Ennoshita’s shoulder blades. Behind them he noticed Kinoshita and Narita having a silent conversation with just expressions, their shoulders pressed together. Ahead of them, Daichi and Sugawara walked as a monolith, the unshakeable heads of the pack.

All the couples around Tadashi were starting to make his chest ache, so he dropped back by Asahi. Tadashi had always liked Asahi, liked his quiet, gentle presence in spite of being an alpha. Now, Tadashi wanted to be beside him even more. Asahi was the only one who understood his worry.

Asahi gave him a small sideways glance of reassurance. It wasn’t a glance that said “everything is going to be okay”. Instead, it said “we’ll all be in this together”. Maybe it wouldn’t be okay, but Tadashi wasn’t going to be alone, and he nodded gratefully to Asahi.

They arrived at the Tsukishima household, and Tadashi rang the doorbell. He noticed that his hands were shaking. Tsukki’s mother opened the door.

“Tadashi! And the rest of the team? Did you all walk Kei home?” Tsukishima-san asked politely. Tadashi felt like he wanted to faint.

“He’s not here?” Daichi asked, taking over for Tadashi. Tsukishima-san shook her head. “None of us have seen him all day.”

“What?” she asked, her face dropping. “He left a little late, I told him he wouldn’t be in time to walk with Tadashi, but he wouldn’t just not go to school!”

“I think we need to call the police,” Sugawara stepped in. “He’s not the first member of the team to vanish like this.”

Tsukishima-san just nodded, opening the door more to let them all in. They waited for the police to arrive, answering any questions they could. They looked skeptical at first, but once Tadashi explained that there had been no behavior changes and that Tsukki wouldn’t just up and leave, and Sugawara broke in to explain that Nishinoya had gone missing a few days earlier, the younger of the two officers started looking interested. The older of the two thanked them politely and told them that he would keep them updated about the state of the investigation.

As the officers walked away, the team could hear the younger one chattering at her partner.

“What if this is connected to Seijoh?” she asked excitedly.

“What have I told you about jumping to conclusions?” he countered gruffly.

“Oikawa Tooru and Yahaba Shigeru are both missing, and now two of Karasuno’s omegas are missing as well. Omegas from male volleyball teams in the area, they have to be connected!”

“Jumping to conclusions like that will get you nowhere.”

“But what if we’re looking at this from the wrong angle? We’ve been looking at individual disappearances, but what if it’s a serial kidnapper? They all fit the same profile.”

“Oda!” her partner snapped, clearly done with all her questions. Their voices faded off. The team glanced at each other.

“Seijoh’s missing omegas too,” Sugawara whispered.

“It can’t be a coincidence,” Daichi sighed. “I knew there had to be something to Noya’s disappearance. There was no way he would’ve just left without saying goodbye.”

“So what do we do now?” Tanaka asked. Daichi looked around.

“Suga, Hinata, you two are the only omegas left,” Daichi said heavily. Sugawara looked stricken. Hinata leaned into Kageyama’s side. “You both have alphas, stick with them if you can. And be careful. Hopefully the police can find Tsukishima and Noya soon.”

“At least they’re actually taking us seriously now,” Asahi muttered under his breath. Tadashi whipped around at the bitterness in his voice. Asahi shook his head apologetically.

Tadashi walked back to his house. Alone. It felt…eerie, and wrong. Usually Tsukki was there, not saying much, but very much there. Tadashi had just turned the corner to his house when it all hit him. He squatted down, put his head in his hands, and sobbed. His best friend was gone, and he had no idea what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look at that, I'm keeping my update schedule. I've written ahead a few chapters so I have a buffer in case real life gets too real, so hopefully I won't be missing updates.  
> My tumblr: musicprincess655.tumblr.com


	3. Straight to Voicemail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note about mated pairs: when a pair mates, both members get a mating bond mark, regardless of their secondary genders. Betas and omegas can mark anyone just like alphas can. Additionally, it’s very rare for pairs to mate in high school, even if the pair is sure they’re going to stay together for the rest of their lives. The reason is the risk of the pain of stretching the bond if the pair goes to different universities. Most pairs will mate after university. Suga and Daichi are mated, which is unusual for a pair as young as them, but they were ready.

 “I wish we knew where Tsukishima and Noya are,” Suga sighed. Daichi looked over at him. That wistful expression was hiding the pain that Daichi could feel through their mating bond.

“The police will find them, now that they actually believe they’re missing,” Daichi assured his mate. Suga shook his head.

“That was horrible, how they treated Asahi. They should’ve believed him even before Tsukishima went missing. Maybe we could’ve kept a better eye on all our omegas if we’d known omegas were going missing.”

“I’m surprised they didn’t believe Asahi at first, especially considering two of Seijoh’s omegas were missing at the time,” Daichi said. It was frustrating, everything about this situation was frustrating. “We should get Asahi to eat lunch with us, the goofball is probably going to be brooding all day.”

“Lunch!” Suga exclaimed, looking into his bag. “I forgot to pack lunch!”

“I can just share some of mine with you,” Daichi offered.

“No, no, we’ll both be hungry if you do that,” Suga waved his hand, looking harried. “I’ll just run to the convenience store and buy something.”

“I’ll go with you,” Daichi said immediately.

“No, you have to go to practice, we can’t both be late. Everyone’s tense, they might actually end up killing each other if neither of us is there.”

“Suga, we’ll be fine, and I want to stay with you.”

“Daichi, please, I’ve been to the convenience store dozens of times. It’s close to the school, nothing’s going to happen.”

Daichi watched Suga run off without another word. Logically, Daichi knew Suga was right. The convenience store was very close to the school, and since Coach Ukai’s family owned it, there was every chance the coach would be able to walk Suga to school after Suga bought his food. It was barely a five minute walk between the store and the school, there wouldn’t be any time for anything to happen to Suga.

Still, he couldn’t shake an ominous feeling in his stomach. It wouldn’t go away, no matter how many times he assured himself that Suga would be fine. He started practice, hopefully without letting his team know how worried he was. He’d perfected his poker face over the years, needing to present a strong front as a pack leader.

He felt like pangs were running through his mating bond mark. It wasn’t something he’d felt before, and he wasn’t sure what it meant. It could have been nothing, considering how on edge he was. He tried to concentrate on running laps. As they finished up warm ups, Coach Ukai walked in.

Without Suga.

“Coach, did you happen to see Suga at the store?” Daichi asked, trying to sound casual. This wasn’t a reason to panic yet, everything was going to be fine.

“Nope. Must have just missed him,” Ukai replied. “He’s taking his time, isn’t he? Usually he’s here earlier to get practice going.”

Every sense Daichi had slammed into high alert.

“Coach, I need a minute to make a call,” he said, turning around without waiting for permission. Usually he wouldn’t be this rude, but he was close to panic and he needed to know Suga was all right. He pulled his phone out, called Suga’s number.

It went to voicemail.

Suga charged his phone every night while he slept, there was no reason for it to have gone to voicemail. Suddenly, the pangs running through Daichi’s bond mark intensified, and he realized he should have paid more attention to them. He never should have let Suga go on his own.

He walked back to the gym in a daze, his thoughts nothing but “ _no no no Suga no please_ ” as he went. He felt numb, like he was moving through water, but also like he was going to throw up. His mate was missing. This would never be okay. Asahi took one look at him and stopped moving. He caught Daichi’s eye, and Daichi saw recognition there. Asahi knew.

The rest of the team stopped practicing as they noticed the two alphas standing still. Everyone drifted over, taking in Daichi’s expression. Looks of fear and apprehension started to come over the faces of the team.

“Suga’s gone,” Daichi announced heavily. There were gasps all around. “His phone’s going straight to voicemail, and…I can feel it through the mating bond.”

The team burst into mutters all around.

“We have to do something,” Tanaka insisted, Ennoshita trying to calm him down.

“He’s our head omega, what are we going to do without him?” Hinata questioned. He inched closer to Kageyama.

“First Noya, then Tsukki, and now Suga?” Ennoshita said. “Are we going to lose all our omegas?”

“Are the police even doing anything?” Yamaguchi snapped. Daichi had never seen him so angry, but he was too caught up in his own emotions to do anything about it.

“They’re practically useless at this point,” Asahi snapped. He’d been getting angrier lately, Daichi noted. He must still be upset about how the police had treated him, never mind how much he must be missing Noya.

“Kageyama,” Daichi said, finally breaking out of his stupor. Kageyama whipped his head up from where he was whispering to Hinata. “Hinata’s the last omega left on the team, not including Yachi since it seems like male omegas are the ones in danger. You have to protect him.”

Kageyama nodded, wrapping his arm around Hinata’s shoulders. He had a set determination in his face that Daichi liked. Hinata was in good hands.

“We need to call the police,” Daichi continued. “I know it seems like they’re useless, but they’re still the best chance we have of finding the omegas.”

The same two officers as last time showed up, Oda and her older partner. They listened, and as they walked away Oda started berating her partner.

“Male omegas are going missing, and you’re still insisting I don’t jump to conclusions?” she demanded angrily as their voices faded. “We should be assigning protection details to the local volleyball teams with omegas, isn’t this evidence enough?”

“Do you understand how hard it would be to assign that many protection details?” her partner snapped. “We don’t even technically have any evidence that the omegas are being kidnapped.”

“It’s not like there would be that many protection details to assign, all the omegas are missing now! There’s only one omega left on both Karasuno’s and Seijoh’s teams, and there’s only one omega on Shiratorizawa’s team to begin with, how hard would that really be?”

Their voices faded until they couldn’t be heard anymore. Daichi turned heavily to his team, feeling numb.

“Kageyama, Hinata’s your omega. It’s up to you to protect him. Don’t let him out of your sight even for a minute, even if it seems like a small distance. Suga was lost between the convenience store and school, it won’t take much.”

Kageyama nodded, taking Hinata’s bike from him and wheeling it alongside the two of them. It was clear he meant to walk Hinata all the way home. Daichi sighed before turning to the rest of the team.

“Be on the lookout for anything, even tiny clues. The police don’t seem to be getting anywhere, if any of you get any ideas for how we can find our missing omegas, we’ll go look.”

Tanaka looked like he was ready to tear apart the entire town looking for his best friend, and Asahi looked like he would follow Tanaka on his rampage. Daichi was thankful Tanaka was dating Ennoshita, who could hopefully keep him in check at least enough so that he didn’t destroy the city. If Tanaka couldn’t go on a rampage, hopefully Asahi wouldn’t either.

Daichi had to keep his team together at all costs, but he was worried that he couldn’t even keep himself together. He could feel himself fraying at the edges already, feeling for the places Suga was supposed to be. He could feel the pull at his bond mark, not because of distance but because of uncertainty. Apparently, it hurt just as much to not know where your mate was as it hurt to be separated from your mate.

Suga was a steadying force for Daichi. They supported the team together. With Suga gone and Asahi spiraling downward, Daichi wasn’t sure how well he could hold the team together on his own. But he had to. It was the only option he had until they brought their omegas home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love all the panicked comments I've been getting! This is going to be a long ride, so buckle up.  
> My tumblr: musicprincess655.tumblr.com


	4. One Missed Text, One Missed Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is that some actual plot I see? Am I finally done introducing everything? (spoiler alert: yes I am) Time for Kageyama’s POV.

“I can make it home on my own,” Hinata grumbled.

“Omegas are going missing. I’m not taking any chances,” Tobio said, wheeling Hinata’s bike alongside them.

“How many times have I made this bike ride?” Hinata asked.

“How many times had Sugawara-san made the walk from the convenience store to school?” Tobio countered. They walked in silence for a minute. Both of them were on edge. Losing Nishinoya was one thing – at the time it seemed like he might have left on his own. Losing Tsukishima was a blow, but losing Sugawara – their head omega – was hitting them hard.

“This is going to take forever if we walk the whole way,” Hinata complained. Tobio paused to swing his leg over the bike and give Hinata an expectant look. “You’re kidding. You’re going to pedal for both of us? It’s my bike, I ride over this mountain every day.”

“Yeah, but not with my weight on it,” Tobio sighed. “Come on, dumbass. Let me take care of you for one night. It won’t kill you.”

Hinata was still grumbling to himself, but sat over the back wheel, looping his arms around Tobio’s waist. Tobio took off. He wouldn’t admit it to Hinata, but it was hard to pedal up the mountain, especially when he was focusing on keeping both himself and Hinata balanced. He wasn’t as good at riding a bike as Hinata was. If this was how Hinata got to and from school every day, it was no wonder he had the thigh muscles to jump as high as he did.

Hinata eventually relaxed, nuzzling his head between Tobio’s shoulder blades. If he hadn’t been so flustered, Tobio would have warned him not to fall asleep. He was still getting used to Hinata’s casual affectionate touches.

They were quiet when they finally pulled up to Hinata’s house. Tobio swung off the bike, Hinata sliding off the back wheel.

“I’ll come over tomorrow morning to take you to school,” Tobio said. “I’ll make sure to bring my bike. What time do you want to leave?”

“You don’t have to do that!” Hinata protested. “It’s a long way to come before school! I’ll be fine, I bike to school every day!”

“Sugawara-san walked to the convenience store every day!” Tobio shouted back. “And it was a much shorter distance than what you bike to school every day!”

“I’m much faster on my bike than Sugawara-san was walking!”

“HINATA!”

Hinata finally paused, looking at Tobio. Really looking at him.

“Are you scared?” he asked quietly.

“Aren’t you?” Tobio shot back. “You’re the one that always gets an upset stomach every time we go to a tournament. Does being the last omega left on the team mean nothing to you?”

“Of course I’m scared. But that doesn’t mean I have to hide.” Hinata shook his head. “I’m not going to stay home because I’m scared.”

“You actually have a reason to be scared this time.” Tobio raised his hands to gently cup Hinata’s face, turning both of them red. “It’s not a stupid thing like you over thinking or not believing in yourself. Omegas really are going missing, and we don’t know why, and I don’t want to lose you.”

Hinata nuzzled his cheek into Tobio’s palm.

“It’s going to be okay, you know?” Hinata said. “I’m going to be careful.”

“At least get your mom to drive you to school tomorrow,” Tobio begged. “Don’t take stupid risks. Let us sort this out before you try to be a hero.”

“Okay. I’ll ask her to drive me to school, I promise,” Hinata agreed. Tobio looked down into his face, met the eyes that were alight with intensity. Hinata meant what he said.

“Thank you,” Tobio sighed. “I’m sorry if I’m being over protective, or if I’m annoying you, or whatever. I’m just…I’m scared. Daichi-san was hiding it well, but he’s falling apart, and so are Azumane-san and Yamaguchi. I can’t lose you too.”

“You’re not being annoying,” Hinata leaned in closer. He still had that intense look in his eyes. “You’re not bothering me.”

Tobio glanced down at Hinata’s mouth, almost without meaning to. He quickly flicked his gaze back up to Hinata’s eyes, watching them burn brighter somehow in the darkness. Watching him lean in closer.

_Does he want me to kiss him? Oh god, I want to kiss him. How do I kiss him?_

“Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Tobio said, standing up straight. He ignored the flash of disappointment he saw in Hinata’s eyes. “Just make sure you stay safe, okay?”

Hinata barreled into his chest, wrapping arms around his waist.

“I’ll be okay,” he said, his face buried in Tobio’s chest. Tobio awkwardly draped his arms over Hinata’s shoulders. He still wasn’t sure what to do during hugs, although Hinata assured him that he was getting better.

“I’ll see you at practice,” Tobio said, turning away to start his walk home. He felt uneasy, but that was normal, right? Three other alphas in his pack had lost their omegas, of course he would be feeling nervous. And there was a lot of risk to Hinata, coming over the mountain, even if his mom drove him.

Maybe he’d feel better if they knew _why_ omegas were going missing. There didn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason to it, just omegas from the same packs going missing.

Tobio shook his head. He probably wasn’t smart enough to figure this out. Maybe the police would find something. Hopefully it was soon. If Hinata was the only omega left, the betas would have a hard time keeping everyone calm.

Tobio couldn’t shake that feeling of unease the entire next morning, though. It probably wouldn’t go away until he actually saw Hinata. He assured his team that Hinata had promised to get a ride from his mom, and tried to keep a lid on his emotions.

Until Hinata wasn’t there at the start of practice.

He sent Daichi a look, and Daichi just nodded, a look of resignation already forming on his face. Tobio ran to his bag to dig out his phone.

One missed text message.

Hinata: mom cant drive me ill just ride my bike!!! dnt worry ill b fast!!

_No._

One missed call.

_No._

A voicemail.

_No no no._

“ _Kageyama!_ _This guy knocked me off my bike! He’s chasing me, I can’t get away, I twisted my ankle. Help me, please! I need help! No, NO! LET ME GO! PUT ME DOWN!_ ”

The voicemail became muffled, faded screams, before it cut out with a crunch like a phone being crushed. The phone slipped out of Tobio’s hands, landing on the ground as he slumped against the wall.

People were around him, he could sort of tell, even if it sounded like their voices were coming through water. He couldn’t focus through his blurry vision.

Someone was in front of him. Yamaguchi. He was talking, asking something? Tobio couldn’t tell. He could barely breathe.

“-yama? Kageyama, what happened?” Yamaguchi’s voice finally registered. Tobio pointed at his phone.

“Hinata,” he tried to say, and his voice cracked. And his cheeks were wet.

Oh.

He was crying.

Yamaguchi guided him to the ground, wrapping arms around him. Instinctively, he tucked his head into Yamaguchi’s shoulder, crying harder. He could finally again, and Daichi’s voice was the clearest.

“We need to call for help. This has gone far enough.”

Tobio looked up from Yamaguchi’s shoulder.

“Call who for help?”

“Seijoh,” Daichi sighed. “Apparently they’re missing omegas too. Maybe we can work together, try to find out what’s going on. But the police aren’t helping and this has gone too far. We need to bring our omegas home.”

Tobio’s eyes welled up again, and he buried his head back in Yamaguchi’s shoulder. Hinata was missing. Hinata was gone. This was his fault. He should have protected his omega. He should have picked up the phone when Hinata called, he should have insisted on taking him to school, he should have kissed him.

What if he never saw Hinata again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My tumblr: musicprincess655.tumblr.com hmu


	5. Interlude: When Karasuno Meets Seijoh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of long chapter this week, this one is more of an interlude before I launch myself headfirst into the actual plot of this story. Next week will be from one of the omega’s POVs, so some questions will be answered. I switch POVs a few times and I think I made it clear who is speaking when, but in case I didn’t, the POVs are Daichi, Iwaizumi, Yamaguchi, Iwaizumi.

Daichi tapped on his phone as he walked home, trying to ignore the empty space Suga usually occupied. He raised the phone to his ear and listened to it ring.

“Hello?” a tired voice asked.

“Is this Iwaizumi Hajime?” Daichi asked. He’d gotten the number from Kageyama, but Kageyama had admitted that the number was from middle school and might not be current. Lucky for him, Iwaizumi must have kept the same number.

“Yes. Who is this?” Iwaizumi asked, voice becoming wary.

“Sawamura Daichi, from Karasuno,” Daichi said quickly. If he was feeling so lost without Suga, he could imagine how Iwaizumi was feeling with Oikawa missing. It had been clear they were dating in the matches Karasuno had played against Seijoh. “Some of our omegas are going missing, and when we called the police they mentioned Seijoh is missing omegas too.”

“Yeah. Toor…Oikawa and Yahaba are both gone,” Iwaizumi sighed. “What about it?”

“We want to try and find our missing omegas,” Daichi said, trying to get straight to the point. “Every male omega on our team is gone, including my mate. The police aren’t doing much to help, we need to bring our pack home. Since your team is losing omegas too, I wanted to ask for your help.”

“You’re actually doing something?” Iwaizumi asked. Daichi could hear the shift in his voice, the first stirrings of hope. “What do you have in mind?”

“We’re not sure yet,” Daichi admitted. “We don’t have much to go on. Pretty much the only evidence we have is a voicemail. Hinata was our last omega to go missing and he managed to call Kageyama when he was being kidnapped.”

“Kageyama and that little middle blocker, huh?” Iwaizumi gave a tired laugh. “I’m going to owe Oikawa 2000 yen when we get him back, he called that after our first practice match. So when should we meet up?”

“We’ve basically suspended practice until further notice. No one can focus with four omegas missing, especially since one is their vice-captain. The betas are having a rough time holding everyone together and I’ve got three other grieving alphas on my hands. We could meet after school? You’re welcome to come here, or pick somewhere else if you’d prefer that.”

“I’ll talk to my other pack leaders, but they’ll probably be fine coming to you,” Iwaizumi said. “Monday work for you? We’ve basically stopped practice too. Not much point if we don’t have our captain.”

“I’m sorry he’s gone,” Daichi told him. “I could tell you two were close. Monday after school works for us, I’ll tell everyone else.”

“Thanks. And you’re missing your mate too, right? That vice-captain of yours, Sugawara, right? That’s rough. I’m sorry.”

“Thanks. It’s just a little hard to hold the pack together by myself. Suga really supported this team.”

“Your ace, the other big alpha. He’s not a co-pack leader?” Iwaizumi asked. He sounded surprised.

“Not officially, no. And he was the first to have his omega go missing, he’s having a hard enough time holding it together. I can’t put this on him too.”

Iwaizumi whistled.

“I’m having a hard enough time with two other pack leaders left, I can’t imagine being the only pack leader right now,” he said sadly. “We’ll see you on Monday. We have to figure this out.”

“Great. See you then.”

***

Hajime led his team to Karasuno. Mattsun and Makki weren’t far behind him. In spite of their usual joking manner, they had become very serious in the wake of losing Tooru and Yahaba. They had been forced to become the pack’s pillars of support, and they’d taken that well.

“Do you think they’ll really be able to help?” Kindaichi asked nervously from his place in the middle next to Kunimi. As the only omega left, Kunimi had been subject to the team being much more protective of him. They naturally fell around Kunimi in the middle when they walked as a group, and Kindaichi had been glued to his side. Hajime was grateful Kindaichi was looking out for Kunimi, because he wasn’t sure the team could handle losing anybody else.

“Working with them gives us a better chance of finding Oikawa and Yahaba,” Hajime said, trying to project confidence. Even with Mattsun and Makki as co-pack leaders, Hajime was the team’s head alpha, and he had to keep everyone’s spirits up. It wasn’t easy; he didn’t have Tooru’s acting skills.

“What have we got to lose, anyway?” Makki shrugged. “It’s not like the police have been any help. Yahaba and Oikawa have been missing for almost two weeks.”

Hajime noticed Kyoutani grimacing in the background. He was worried about the surly younger alpha. Yahaba had been the first omega on the team to go missing, and Kyoutani hadn’t taken it well. He’d become quiet, his glare intensifying.

They walked the rest of the way to Karasuno in silence. Sawamura was waiting for them, leading them to the rest of his pack. Nobody looked very good. Hajime noticed the other alpha that he’d originally assumed was a co-pack leader first, standing against a wall with his arms crossed over his chest. The bald alpha that liked to make weird faces and a black haired beta were standing next to him, obviously trying to soothe him.

Hajime’s eyes were drawn to Kageyama next, his former kouhai. Kageyama was on the floor, his knees tucked up to his chest. A young alpha, the one Hajime remembered as a pinch server, was pressed against his side, murmuring to him, while two other betas sat on either side of them. Both alphas looked horrible.

“So what’s the plan?” Hajime asked. His team settled around him.

“Well…honestly, this is all we have to work with,” Sawamura said apologetically, holding up a phone. Out of the corner of his eye, Hajime noticed Kageyama tensing up. “One of our omegas, Hinata, managed to leave Kageyama a voicemail as he was being kidnapped.”

“Can we hear?” Mattsun asked, Makki nodding curiously behind him.

“Yeah,” Sawamura sighed, pressing buttons on the phone as an audio started to play.

“ _Kageyama! This guy knocked me off my bike! He’s chasing me, I can’t get away, I twisted my ankle. Help me, please! I need help! No, NO! LET ME GO! PUT ME DOWN!_ ”

Hajime watched Kageyama’s face get whiter and whiter, but when the voicemail became fading screams he stood up and ran out of the room. The young alpha who’d been beside him followed after a moment of hesitation. Sawamura sighed as the voicemail cut off.

“They’d just started dating when he got that voicemail,” he explained, sounding tired. “He’s not taking it well. None of us are.”

***

“Kageyama, wait…slow down, wait!” Tadashi called ahead, struggling to catch up to Kageyama. He ran so fast, as fast as if he was racing Hinata.

“What, am I supposed to be fine?” Kageyama snapped, whirling on Tadashi. “Am I supposed to listen to him scream and pretend it doesn’t bother me?”

“Of course not!” Tadashi shouted back, voice much stronger than he felt. “But you don’t need to push us away either! You’re not the only one hurting!”

Kageyama stopped mid shout, slumping down the wall next to him and tucking his head into his arms. He muttered something unintelligible.

“What?” Tadashi asked, much softer than before. Kageyama picked his head up.

“I said I’m sorry, okay?” he said, clearly trying for venom but just sounding tired. “I know you and Azumane-san and Daichi-san are all upset too. You probably think I’m being such a baby.”

“Not really,” Tadashi replied, sliding down the wall to lean on Kageyama’s shoulder. “I mean, yeah, we all miss our omegas, but you’re the only one who has to listen to him being kidnapped.”

“I just…I just got him, Yamaguchi,” Kageyama said, voice thicker. He was clearly about to cry. “I’ve been trying for months to work up the courage to tell him I like him, and now he’s just…gone. He’s gone, just like everyone else.”

“Hey, come on, that’s not fair,” Tadashi sighed. “He didn’t choose to leave, he was taken. You know he wouldn’t leave you if he had the choice. You were the first one he thought to call when he was in trouble.”

“For whatever good that did him,” Kageyama growled, but he relaxed into Tadashi. “I couldn’t even answer the phone when he called for help. I’m supposed to protect him and I couldn’t even pick up the phone when he needed me.”

“You can’t blame yourself for that,” Tadashi countered. “Even if you’d picked up when he called, there’s no guarantee you would’ve been able to get to him in time. He rides a long way to school, right? This isn’t your fault. Every alpha is thinking about how they should’ve protected their omegas, but we lost them all when we thought they were safe. Nishinoya-senpai was probably on his way to school, Tsukki too. Sugawara-san was between the convenience store and school, and Hinata was supposed to get a ride with his mom.”

“You’re…I know you’re right, but I’ll still never be able to forgive myself if anything happens to him.” Kageyama was definitely crying now, but it was okay, because so was Tadashi. “I don’t think I could forgive myself now. I knew I should have walked him to school.”

“He’s going to be okay,” Tadashi said with conviction. “Daichi-san is mated to Sugawara-san and he would feel it if Sugawara-san wasn’t okay. If Sugawara-san is okay, Hinata and Tsukki and Nishinoya-senpai are okay.”

“You really believe everything is going to be okay, don’t you?” Kageyama asked. He sounded almost surprised.

“I have to believe everything is going to be okay. I don’t have anything else.”

***

Hajime watched Sawamura sigh as two of his youngest teammates left the room. More than anything, Sawamura looked tired. Out of the window, Hajime could see the two young alphas, Kageyama and the pinch server, talking to each other before curling into each other and sinking to the ground.

“They’ll be okay,” Sawamura assured everyone. “As okay as they can be, they’ve both lost their omegas.”

“It’s okay,” Hajime assured him. “Oikawa’s been missing for over a week, I understand. And Yahaba’s been missing even longer.”

Kyoutani turned and left the room. Hajime moved to follow him before turning to Mattsun and Makki.

“You two got this?” he asked. They both nodded. Hajime ducked out to follow Kyoutani. He was standing next to a wall, a hand on it to support himself.

“Are you okay?”

“No. I mean…no,” Kyoutani said brokenly.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s just…Yahaba’s been missing for almost two weeks. He’s been gone the longest, what if something happened to him?”

“Nothing’s happened to Oikawa. Trust me, I would’ve felt it. If Oikawa's fine, Yahaba's probably fine too,” Hajime reassured him, before thinking about the meaning of his words. “Wait…you’re worried?”

“I shouldn’t be,” Kyoutani laughed derisively. “He’s not even my omega to lose.”

It took Hajime a second to realize Kyoutani was talking about Yahaba.

“You…you were close to him?” Hajime asked, because from what he’d seen, it looked like Yahaba and Kyoutani hated each other. Clearly, that wasn’t the case.

“I…honestly, I wanted to court him,” Kyoutani admitted, turning red. “I would’ve mentioned it eventually. Maybe.”

“Just because he wasn’t your omega doesn’t mean you can’t miss him,” Hajime said. “Even without considering you liking him, he’s your packmate. Of course you miss him.”

“I’m such an idiot,” Kyoutani grumbled. “I’m worrying myself crazy about an omega who isn’t even mine.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Hajime assured him. “Trust me. You can go home if you want to, but you can stay and try to help us find our omegas too. Maybe we’ll get somewhere, and you can tell him how you feel.”

Kyoutani nodded, following Hajime back into the building. Hajime sighed to himself. They were really in this for the long haul, and he hoped he had enough strength to bear his team through this. He wanted to get Tooru back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've really been enjoying all of your comments, especially the ones that like the pacing or suspense of this story, since that's what I'm trying to work on by writing this.


	6. Prelude: Taken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So some of you may have noticed that I've given a tentative chapter count. This is probably wrong since my outline doesn't lend itself to chapters very well. It is a good ballpark estimate though. Finally a chapter from an omega's POV - Oikawa's. I know I said I would answer some questions this chapter, but I also put that slow burn tag there for a reason, so...

_Two weeks ago…_

Tooru hummed quietly to himself, skipping ever so slightly on his way to morning practice. He’d actually gone to sleep at a reasonable hour the night before and had woken up in a good mood. It lasted him all the way to school, all the way through changing and exchanging banter with his teammates.

It started to fade when he realized not every member of his pack was there that morning.

“Yahaba-chan isn’t at practice today,” Tooru said aloud, looking around. Iwaizumi looked over at him.

“He’s probably sick,” Iwaizumi replied. Tooru bit his lip. Logically, of course, Iwaizumi was right. “You don’t look satisfied.”

“It’s just…he usually sends a text if he can’t make it to practice,” Tooru mused. Iwaizumi snorted.

“Don’t tell me you’ve got your panties in a bunch because your favorite didn’t show up and didn’t tell you he wasn’t going to show up,” Iwaizumi teased.

“I do not have favorites!” Tooru squawked. “I am an admirable senpai and model head omega, everyone on the team receives my love equally.”

“I hope I don’t receive the same love as Iwaizumi,” Mattsun quipped as he walked by.

“You may be attractive but you’re probably really high maintenance in bed,” Makki added. Tooru flailed while Iwaizumi tried not to blush too hard at the implication. It wasn’t like it was invalid. They were mated, of course they’d had sex at least once.

“Are you really worried?” Iwaizumi asked under his breath as everyone settled in to practice.

“Nope!” Tooru chirped with his signature grin. “You’re probably right, he’s probably just sick, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi looked at him for a minute. He could clearly tell that Tooru was still uneasy, but also knew that Tooru knew it was a bit irrational. After all, there was no reason to suspect there was anything seriously wrong.

Tooru sat through his classes, Yahaba mostly out of his mind. He did check his phone during breaks, expecting a text explaining that the younger omega was just sick and apologizing for missing practice. Yahaba was good about letting Tooru know things in advance, especially since they’d been working so closely together after the third years had unofficially retired.

Yahaba was slated to be the new captain, and Tooru had been working with him to prepare for that. It wasn’t just learning about how to lead a practice or set up matches. A lot went into maintaining pack stability, especially since Seijoh had a long tradition of having multiple pack leaders. Typically, Seijoh would be led by at least one of each subgender, depending on the oldest pack members. As an omega, Yahaba would have a stronger set of co-pack leaders if he could find a suitable alpha and beta. Watari, of course, could make an excellent beta co-pack leader, and Tooru had been encouraging Yahaba to build his friendship with Kyoutani. He may have seemed prickly, but Tooru saw potential in him to be a good head alpha.

Yahaba had been defensive and cagey about the topic, and it hadn’t taken Tooru long to realize that the younger omega was flustered. This was an entirely different matter, but Tooru assured him that having a crush on a potential co-pack leader was a good thing.

“In fact,” Tooru had said, “if you can get him to partner with you like that, you can increase your meshing on the court as a setter and spiker pair.”

In his mind, Yahaba should have already been pursuing Kyoutani as a romantic partner. It was clear to him, if not to Yahaba, that Kyoutani returned the feelings. What did it matter that society said alphas were supposed to make the first move? It also said omegas were supposed to be submissive, and Tooru had done just fine being captain and choosing his own mate.

So when he had no word from Yahaba and no sign of him at afternoon practice, he was a little nervous and a little put out. After all, he and Yahaba had been doing such good work setting up the pack for next year, after all four co-pack leaders left.

“You’re still worried, aren’t you?” Iwaizumi asked as they left practice that night.

“I know I shouldn’t be, but he’s always let me know if he can’t come to practice in the past,” Tooru sighed. “He usually texts me even if he’s going to be late. This just isn’t like him. What if he’s really sick and can’t even take care of himself? His parents work really late, if he’s sick there’s no one to take care of him. What if he missed a dose of heat suppressants and went into heat with no one to take care of him? What if…?”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Iwaizumi interrupted him, holding up his hands in surrender. “You’re worried about your favorite kouhai. Why don’t you just go over to his house and check on him? You’ll stop freaking out so much once you see there’s nothing to freak out over.”

“You’re right, Iwa-chan,” Tooru said, brightening. “I’ll walk over, and I’ll even get the ingredients to make soup to make him feel better.”

“You’ll just make him sicker,” Iwaizumi deadpanned.

“Mean Iwa-chan! Mean!” But Iwaizumi was poking Tooru’s sides, and they were both laughing. “Walk with me?”

“I have a test tomorrow that I haven’t started studying for,” Iwaizumi shook his head ruefully. “I really need to get home and get on that.” He stood on his toes for a minute to peck Tooru on the lips. “Text me after you see Yahaba, okay? Let me know you’re not fretting all night.”

“Will do, Iwa-chan,” Tooru shot him a peace sign, already skipping in a different direction. He’d been to Yahaba’s house once before, right after the current pack leaders had decided he would be the next captain. He remembered the way there, and he thought there was a convenience store on the way. He would swing through and get ingredients for soup – no matter what Iwaizumi said, he wasn’t that bad a cook.

It was dark out now, and there weren’t a lot of street lights along his path. Tooru unconsciously started skipping faster, humming to distract himself from the darkness around him. He swung through the convenience store quickly, grabbing what he needed, before walking up to Yahaba’s house.

When he knocked on the door, an older beta woman answered. Yahaba’s mother.

“You’re that volleyball captain. Oikawa Tooru?” she said from the doorway. Tooru nodded.

“Yes. I was wondering if Yahaba-chan was sick today. He wasn’t at school or practice. I brought over some things for soup if he is?”

Tooru held up the bag to demonstrate. Yahaba-san’s eyes grew wide.

“He wasn’t at school today? Or at practice?” she asked. Every uneasy feeling Tooru had had all day came back with a vengeance.

“No, he wasn’t.”

“He left the same time he always does this morning,” she said, worrying growing in her voice. “He should have been to school in plenty of time.”

Tooru chatted for a few minutes with her before walking off in a daze. Yahaba was missing, as far as he or Yahaba’s mother knew. Should he go to the police station? Had it even been long enough to declare Yahaba a missing person?

Tooru decided he should go to the police station. It couldn’t hurt to ask, and it wasn’t that late yet.

He cut through an alley to get to the closest police station. There were no lights, and he stopped for a minute to let his eyes adjust to the darkness.

Then someone grabbed him from behind.

Tooru tried to scream, but a hand was clamped over his mouth, muffling it. He struggled against the iron grip on his arms, kicking back as hard as he could. He may have been an omega but he was strong and he could fight.

A needle stabbed into his neck. He jumped, the extra spike in adrenaline giving him the push he needed to break away. He dashed away as fast as his legs would carry him.

Which wasn’t very fast, he soon found. His legs were wobbling under him, barely supporting his weight. His vision was blurring and his breath was coming shorter. He could see lights in the distance, swear he heard people, but he was slowing down. He couldn’t even draw enough breath to scream for help.

“Iwa-chan,” he gasped desperately, scrabbling the brick wall beside him. He collapsed to his knees, dropping to the ground. A figure loomed over him.

“Hajime,” Tooru breathed, before everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just a note: since it is finals time, I will be very busy in the next two weeks. While I will do my best to prevent this, it might mean I’m late with the next update. Hopefully, this will only be at the worst a few days, but at most I will miss next week’s update and post the following Sunday. If I am lame and that ends up happening, I will be posting some sort of drabble relating to this fic along with the next update. Please be gentle with me, finals this semester are going to be really rough. Thanks to everyone so much for the support this fic has gotten.


	7. Prelude: First to Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo boy, survived the easier week of finals. This chapter is a little shorter and is from Yahaba's POV. I will be moving back to the present in the next chapter, still jumping around in the omegas' POVs.

_Two weeks ago…_

Shigeru was done panicking.

He’d been here for about a day, wherever “here” was. “Here” had become less of a “where” and more of a “what”. Concrete below him and behind him, a cuff linking his right hand to a pipe in the wall, food in front of him that he couldn’t eat.

He’d eaten it at first, of course. He was hungry. But the haze that settled in his mind told him it was drugged, probably with sedatives. Luckily, the glass of water seemed safe. The haze had mostly worn from his mind, letting him think about what was going on.

So he was done panicking. There was only so long his body could hold up that state of panic, and Shigeru had lapsed into listlessness. He had entirely too much time to think.

Shigeru couldn’t remember exactly how he’d gotten here. He remembered leaving for morning practice, the sun not even up yet. He remembered walking the way he always walked. He remembered panic, trying to run, and then…

He was here, with an ache in his head and a sting in his neck.

He’d been kidnapped, his mind supplied, but why he’d been kidnapped was a blank. His parents weren’t rich and he hadn’t made any enemies, unless he wanted to count Kyoutani. But he’d come to learn that Kyoutani wouldn’t actually hurt him, and besides, if Kyoutani did want to hurt him, he’d just throw a punch and be done with it.

Shigeru had never been good at being alone. Omegas in general were bad at this, but because of his constant participation in volleyball he’d hardly been alone a day in his life.

So he was starting to get restless. His left hand tapped idly on his knee, his right hand twisted unconsciously in its cuff. He shifted his feet back and forth. Anything to keep his mind from wandering too far, wondering what exactly he was here for.

The lack of windows and artificial lights gave him no indication of passage of time. He could’ve been there a few hours or a few days and never known the difference.

Finally, something changed. The door across from him swung open. Shigeru tried to push to his feet, prepare himself for anything, but the cuff kept him in a crouch.

A man stepped through, significantly taller than Shigeru, with a figure in his arms. When he drew closer, Shigeru recognized the fluffs of brown hair.

“Oikawa-san?” His voice cracked from disuse.

“Silence,” the man growled at him. Shigeru reeled back. He’d had an alpha try to force him to submit before, but this man’s scent was the strongest Shigeru had ever come across. He shook as the man lowered Oikawa to the ground, snapping a cuff over his left wrist.

The man left, and Shigeru immediately turned his attention to Oikawa. He was passed out with a few bruises and a mark on his neck that probably matched Shigeru’s. Other than that, he seemed to be okay.

Shigeru nervously tapped his fingers. It was almost worse, now that he had someone with him but not one he could talk to. He shuffled closer so their cuffed hands knocked together. Turning, he curled himself around Oikawa.

Every instinct he had wanted to relax and be taken care of, since Oikawa was his pack’s head omega, but Shigeru got the feeling they would have to take care of each other. He wasn’t sure how long it would take, but sooner or later Oikawa was going to wake up dizzy and confused, just like Shigeru had earlier. Shigeru would try to explain what was happening; it would make it easier for Oikawa.

Soon enough – maybe a few hours? definitely not as long as Shigeru had been alone – Oikawa started to stir. Shigeru sat up, backing away to give him space. Oikawa’s eyes fluttered open, darting around to take in his surroundings.

“Oikawa-san?” Shigeru asked quietly. Oikawa focused in on Shigeru.

“Yahaba-chan, thank god,” he sighed before throwing his free arm around Shigeru’s neck. Shigeru nuzzled into the hug, the touch from his head omega already calming him. “I went to your house to look for you when you didn’t show up for practice, but your mother said she didn’t know where you were.”

“You went looking for me? How long have I been gone?” Shigeru asked. How worried were his parents?

“Well…you’d missed school all day when I went to your house. I thought you might be sick. So I guess you’ve been missing about a day now?”

A day. The eternity Shigeru had spent tapping at his knees and staring into space and in general panicking had been only a day.

“Where are we, do you think?” Oikawa continued, absently pulling at his wrist in the cuff.

“No idea. Don’t eat the food, by the way, it’s drugged. The water’s fine, though.”

“It must have been awful, stuck here by yourself,” Oikawa sighed. “How did you do it?”

“I’ve been…okay, I guess. I panicked a lot when I first woke up, but I couldn’t panic forever. You’re taking this pretty well.”

“Hmm. Well, I can’t exactly panic when my kouhai needs me,” Oikawa flashed a bright smile, but Shigeru could see through the cracks in his façade. “After all, I’m still your head omega, it’s my job to take care of you! I hope Kunimi-chan will be okay.”

“You don’t think he’s going to go after Kunimi too, do you?” Shigeru asked. His worry redoubled when he thought about the younger omega being taken.

“I don’t know,” Oikawa admitted, looking more tired than Shigeru had ever seen him. If Shigeru was worried, then Oikawa had to be doubly so, worrying about not only himself but the entire pack.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Shigeru asked. Oikawa looked up at him.

“Well, the first problem is these wrist cuffs, and then of course that door over there is probably locked, so that’s another problem, and then we don’t even know where we are so we could easily be retaken even if we could get out and run, and then of course there’s the problem of the man who took us, since we don’t know how many there are, so…”

“Okay, I get it,” Shigeru interrupted. “We have a lot of things to think through.”

“We don’t seem to be in any immediate danger. I mean, he hasn’t hurt you, right?” Shigeru shook his head. “Then we have some time to figure this out. If the water’s okay, we can survive without the food for a while.”

Shigeru nodded, suddenly feeling very tired, as if everything keeping him going had just stopped. Oikawa brushed a hand through his hair, guiding Shigeru’s head down to rest in his lap.

“Sleep for a while, okay? I’ll keep watch and make sure nothing happens to you,” Oikawa promised. Shigeru could already feel sleep pulling him under, but he got one more question out.

“Oikawa-san? We’re going to get out of this, right?”

“Of course we are,” Oikawa said. Shigeru opened his eyes and looked up to see an intense expression on Oikawa’s face. “Nobody messes with my pack. Go to sleep Yahaba-chan. You’ll be safe for a while, anyway.”

Shigeru let himself be pulled into sleep, ignoring the thought of “ _but just how long are we going to be safe?_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I survived the easier week of finals, but next week is going to be very hard and I can almost guarantee I’m not going to get the next update out by next Sunday. Apologies in advance for that. I will try to post it late as opposed to skipping the update entirely, but we’ll see how much time I have to write. Thanks as always for reading and commenting.


	8. By a Thread

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *drags self in with dying breath*  
> *holds out update with shaking arms*  
> have...Suga's...POV  
> *collapses*

_Present_

Koushi wasn’t allowed to panic. He had three younger omegas to care for, one crying, one unresponsive, and one with too much responsibility forced onto him. He hated that he needed Noya’s help when Noya was so clearly terrified as well, but Koushi had to focus on Hinata curled under his arm, crying. He had to focus on Tsukishima, silent and with a worrying blank look in his eyes, out of Koushi’s reach but for his cuffed right hand. He had to rely on Noya, curled into Tsukishima’s side, to comfort him.

Noya deserved the care and comfort of his head omega, just as Hinata and Tsukishima did, but Koushi had to ask him to step up to take care of the youngest two omegas.

“Is he ever going to calm down?” a voice asked from across the room. Koushi looked up to see Oikawa staring at him. While the question seemed petty at first, Koushi only had to look at Oikawa, a younger omega curled into his side, a look of worry plastered across his face, to see what he really meant.

“ _Is he going to be okay?_ ”

“He’ll be fine,” Koushi assured with false confidence. “He’s only been here a few days, he needs time to adjust.”

“We shouldn’t have to adjust,” the younger omega curled into Oikawa’s side – Yahaba, he’d introduced himself – cut in. “We should be trying to get out of here.”

“It’s not that easy, Yahaba-chan,” Oikawa sighed. “There’s a lot to plan out, we don’t know enough yet.”

Koushi kind of hated himself for some of the thoughts bouncing around in his head.

He wished he only had one younger omega to care for like Oikawa did.

He wished he could give some of the drugged food to Hinata, not only to calm him down, but so Koushi wouldn’t have to listen to him cry as much.

He wished Hinata was as calm as Tsukishima, even if Tsukishima was anything but calm.

And finally, the thought Koushi hated himself for more than anything else.

He wished he wasn’t head omega.

Oh sure, he loved caring for his kids, especially when times weren’t tough. He loved being head omega, it was a role he thrived in. But none of that took away from the fact that Koushi was just as terrified as the others, and he had to bury that to take care of everyone.

Maybe he shouldn’t be blamed for having parts of him whisper the wishes that would make this easier.

But he still hated those parts.

“Maybe we should take it in turns, eating the food,” Noya spoke up quietly. “I mean, we know it’s laced with sedatives, but we’re all going to waste away if we don’t eat. The Seijoh pack is looking really hungry. If we take it in turns, there can always be someone sober to look out for the rest of us.”

“Much as I hate the idea of giving up my control, he has a point,” Oikawa sighed. Yahaba shifted next to him, a hungry gleam lighting his eyes. Koushi remembered that Yahaba had been missing the longest and hadn’t had anything to eat for about two weeks, if they were guessing time correctly.

“Obviously the first ones in should be the first ones to take a turn eating,” Koushi said. “Yahaba, Oikawa, and Noya should take the first turn. We should have a head omega in each group.”

“You’ll be fine while we’re sedated?” Oikawa asked. Once again, Koushi could hear the real question underneath.

“ _Will you be okay with the two most upset omegas by yourself?_ ”

“I’ll be okay. Yahaba said the sedatives wore off after a few hours anyway.”

“I think it was a few hours. We can’t measure time very well,” Yahaba warned.

“It’ll be okay. We’re not helping anything by starving ourselves,” Koushi sighed. They did their best to get food to the three who would be eating. It seemed to be just hot dogs, probably cold and gross at this point, but everyone was too hungry to care.

It was only once the three had settled into their sedative-induced stupor that Koushi realized how quiet it had become. Hinata had stopped crying.

“Hinata?” Koushi asked cautiously, grateful if the younger omega had finally calmed down, but wary of setting him off again. However, he was met with the intense yet calm face Hinata sometimes adopted on the court. It was never sure what would trigger it, but it seemed the setting of a plan had shaken Hinata out of his panic.

“You’re mated with Daichi-san, right?” Hinata asked, voice surprisingly steady.

“Yes,” Koushi answered. He and Daichi had never made any secret about their mating bond.

“How much can you tell about him, from that?” Hinata asked. “Can you tell what he’s doing right now? Can you send him messages to lead him here?”

“That’s not quite how it works,” Koushi shook his head sadly. “It doesn’t make you telepathic with your mate, or even perfectly empathic. You can really only tell the big stuff. I would know if he was dead, and I can feel the distress because I’m sure everyone who’s missing a partner on the team is distressed, but I can’t give you any more than that.”

“So you can’t tell what’s going on with the rest of the pack?” Hinata sounded so disappointed. Koushi was about to answer when he felt a weight drop on his shoulder. Tsukishima had leaned into him, pulling Noya along, still curled into a ball but slightly less wound up. His eyes looked a little less blank.

“No, I can’t,” Koushi replied.

“I wish I knew how Kageyama was doing,” Hinata sighed. “He’s got abandonment issues, he’s had them for a while, and I’ve been trying to help but…this is probably the opposite of helpful.”

“I hope Yamaguchi’s okay,” Tsukishima spoke up for the first time. He didn’t offer anything else, but then again his point had already been made. Hinata reached across Koushi to grab Tsukishima’s free right hand. Noya slumbered on besides Tsukishima.

“Look, as distressed as Daichi feels, they have to be looking for us,” Koushi tried to reassure them. “They’ll find us, or the police will, and then we’ll get out. We won’t be here forever.”

“What if he decides to kill us?” It was almost disconcerting how calmly Hinata said that.

“Wouldn’t he have killed us already?” It was almost disconcerting how calmly Koushi said that. “And why gather omegas from the same packs, all male, and all volleyball players? This can’t have been easy to plan out, there’s no reason to go to all this work only to kill us here. There’s something else going on here, we just have to figure out what.”

Hinata was about to reply when the door creaked open. Koushi was on instant high alert, preparing to defend both his own omegas and the Seijoh omegas. However, as he had when he brought Hinata in, the hulking man didn’t say a word as he came into the room, carefully balancing a body at least as big as Tsukishima’s on his shoulders. Koushi kept his half crouch, prepared in case a blow came their way, but the man just cuffed the figure he carried to a pipe a little ways away from the Karasuno omegas, turning and stalking out silently.

Koushi let out a breath. That was the best outcome he could have hoped for.

“Isn’t he on Shiratorizawa?” Hinata asked. “He’s that middle blocker that could always guess where we would spike, right?”

Now that he thought about it, Koushi did recognize that deep red hair and mouth turned up even in unconsciousness.  

“He’s the only omega that played on their team,” Tsukishima spoke again.

“Is he the only omega on the team?” Hinata asked.

“If he is, that means he’s going to be on his own,” Koushi said. He bit his lip. The last thing he needed was another scared omega to take care of, yet the idea of being alone and scared in a place with no friendly faces was almost unbearable. No one deserved that.

Koushi would figure out how to care for this new omega when the time came. For now, he had his own kids to take care of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really tough to write, not only because of finals but because of other stuff going on in my life. Thank you all for being patient with me. I'm pretty sure I can go back to Sunday updates this week because I've got most of my mental stuff sorted even if not all the life stuff is sorted.


	9. The Plot Thickens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note about betas: in a lot of omegaverse fiction, betas are “regular humans” without the influence of a secondary gender or any scents/hormones attached to them. In my verse, betas have their own unique scents, hormones, and attributes, just like omegas and alphas do. 
> 
> I debated splitting this into 2 chapters, as it's kind of long, but decided it all belonged together so here's a longer chapter. I foresee them getting longer as I have more characters to address in any given chapter.

“So I’ve had a thought,” Ennoshita spoke up. It was the second time they’d met up with Seijoh and Tobio was determined to do a better job of keeping himself under control.

“What’s that?” Daichi asked.

“I think there’s some background noise on that voicemail. What if we could figure out where Hinata was kidnapped from that?” Ennoshita suggested. “What if we could go find where he was kidnapped, maybe find a clue to where he is?”

“It’s a good idea,” Iwaizumi said. Tobio tensed up at the idea of listening to Hinata scream again, but he forced himself to stay quiet. This could help, this could lead them to Hinata and the others. The other alphas were holding themselves together just fine, he had to stop being a baby. This was for Hinata.

Tobio sat down next to Ennoshita as he played the voicemail. He tried to ignore the squeezes his chest was doing every time Hinata screamed. But if he could just ignore those…

“Wait. Play it again,” Tobio said, straining his ears. He could’ve sworn he’d heard…

There!

“Listen. Don’t you hear the river rushing in the background?” he asked. Everyone else fell silent to listen, and the people closer to the phone agreed that yes, it sounded like a river in the background. “He only rides alongside a river for a little bit to get to school. One hundred meters at most. He must have been kidnapped somewhere along there!”

“Can you show us where that is?” Daichi asked. Tobio nodded. They made to leave when someone shyly, awkwardly stepped through the gym doors.

Ushijima. Ushijima Wakatoshi, the wonder ace, was here.

“What are you doing here?” Iwaizumi asked defensively. Tobio remembered that Iwaizumi had more reason that most to dislike Ushijima.

“I heard that both of your packs are losing omegas,” Ushijima said, a bland look on his face.

“So?”

“My omega is missing. I want to ask for your help to find him and offer mine in return.”

“Your omega?” Daichi asked. He looked wary, but open to the idea of bringing Ushijima along.

“His name is Tendou Satori. He’s been missing since yesterday. The police mentioned that both of your packs have lost omegas. I figured you might be looking for them. I’m very worried,” Ushijima said simply.

“We might have figured out where one of our omegas went missing,” Daichi said. “We were just about to go check it out, if you’d like to come along.”

“Yes. Thank you,” Ushijima nodded his head.

Tobio ended up in the lead, because he was the only one who knew where they were going. Yamaguchi was at his right side, where he’d been glued a lot for the past two weeks. Surprisingly, Ushijima ended up on his left.

“Kageyama Tobio,” Ushijima started to conversation. “I notice Hinata Shouyou is missing. He is your omega?”

“Yeah he’s…he’s my boyfriend,” Tobio choked out. “Just Kageyama is fine, by the way.”

“Kageyama. I am sorry he’s gone. This is a pain no one should have to have,” Ushijima said simply. His face was blank, but maybe there was worry in his eyes. Tobio couldn’t tell. He wasn’t good at reading faces. Hinata was better at that, maybe that was why they were such a good team. They balanced each other out.

“Isn’t the rest of your pack worried too?” Yamaguchi asked timidly.

“We’re not a pack in the same way you and Seijoh are a pack,” Ushijima said. Maybe Tobio was imagining the sadness in his voice. “They have no obligation to help me, and I can’t imagine bringing this matter to them. Tendou is my omega. I will find him and protect him.”

They walked in silence after that.

Tobio missed Hinata. He’d really started taking it for granted, having that little ball of sunshine by his side all the time.

He should’ve kissed him.

“This is the part of the river Hinata rides along,” Tobio spoke up, and he was proud that his voice only cracked a little. “He crosses that bridge and rides down to this street.”

“Spread out in pairs and look for anything that might help us,” Daichi commanded. “He’s only been missing a few days, there might still be something there.”

Tobio stayed with Yamaguchi while Ushijima paired with Daichi. Everyone else worked into pairs, the betas pairing with alphas whenever possible. Tobio wondered if they were doing it on purpose or if it was an instinct to help keep order in the packs by splitting up the grieving alphas as much as possible.

Tobio was just starting to learn the different roles each subgender played in pack dynamics, just as he was still learning the value of teamwork. Betas were not simply people who were neither omegas nor alphas. They had a role too, and that role wasn’t just “keeping the peace”. It seemed to be more than that. They were the ones stepping up with omegas gone and alphas upset, the only ones staying calm. They seemed a lot more special than just peace keepers.

Tobio tried to get out of his own head. It wasn’t helping anything. Instead he focused on looking down on the river while Yamaguchi scoured the ground beside them. He was so focused on the river that he didn’t notice the scuffed up earth until he was tripping over it. He looked at his feet. There’d been a scuffle here.

He sped up, looking desperately around because _was that where Hinata was taken?_ One of his glances caught on something shiny in the river, and his blood ran cold.

“Daichi-san?” It was hoarse, too soft to carry, but it was all Tobio had. Luckily, Yamaguchi was right next to him, and he saw what Tobio saw.

“Daichi-san! Everyone! We found something!”

Daichi was the first to reach them as everyone came running up. Tobio shakily extended a hand to point at the twisted metal partially hidden by water and mud.

“That’s Hinata’s.”

They waited in a kind of stunned silence for the police to arrive and find this latest clue. Tobio felt numb. The police showed up, hauling the bike out of the river, starting to ask everyone questions.

Tobio stared at the bike. It was mangled from being thrown into the river, and probably from whatever the kidnapper had done to make Hinata fall off the bike in the first place.

_I can’t get away, I twisted my ankle!_

That old bike that was clearly well-cared-for, despite all the peeling paint. That old bike that still ran fine because Hinata made a point to take care of it. That bike that had carried Hinata over the mountains time and again, that Hinata looked at as a kind of old friend, that Hinata took a kind of pride in.

_I can’t get away, I twisted my ankle!_

_LET ME GO! PUT ME DOWN!_

Whoever this was, they’d hurt Hinata, and suddenly Tobio wasn’t numb anymore. He was furious. How dare this person put a hand on his omega? How dare someone hurt the boy he loved?

“Kageyama Tobio?” a quiet voice asked. Tobio whipped his head around, the glare probably still in place. The young beta woman, the police officer who’d been on the case, didn’t look phased. “Is it alright if I ask you a few questions?”

Tobio nodded mechanically. He sifted through the ones that sounded repeated and that the young officer said robotically, as if reading from a script. Then she asked a few that sounded a little more thought out.

“How did you figure out where his bike was going to be?”

“I didn’t know his bike was going to be here,” Tobio croaked. “I heard a river rushing in the background of his voicemail. This river. He rides past it to get to school.”

“He rides the bike this way every day to get to school?” she asked, sounding more interested. Tobio nodded, not sure why she was so fascinated.

“He rides over the mountain every day, he rides along this river a little to get to school.”

“So this is a spot that he passes every day, twice a day, on his bike, where not many people are around,” she mused, more to herself than him.

“So what?” Tobio asked. He didn’t mean to sound as rude as he did. She didn’t seem to mind.

“So that’s a pattern. An exploitable pattern. Which means that he’s been watching the omegas of area volleyball teams, probably planning this out. This is a premeditated serial kidnapping, with a common target. And it’s clever, it wouldn’t have been easy to map his entire route and pick this place where there aren’t a lot of people around to set a trap. Especially because getting over the mountain is full of either roads cars tend to drive or people, this is really the only spot he could’ve taken Hinata-san without attracting attention of people around. And if he’s figured that out, he knows the patterns of the omegas, which can’t have been easy to figure out with how many are missing. It’s almost scientific, which means we can adapt a profile of him to best figure out where he’s taking them and why.”

She took some deep breaths as Tobio stared at her in awe. She was smarter than he’d ever be, Tobio thought. He never would have thought of all that, but it made perfect sense.

“Do you think…I could take his bike?” Tobio asked slowly. “To fix it up for him, when he gets back? It means a lot to him.”

“It’s evidence, so we have to take it in, but I’ll see what I can do,” she sighed. “I don’t want to diminish what you’ve done here, because that was a really smart leap to find the river from the voicemail, but I don’t think there’s a whole lot of evidence to be found on it. I’ll see if maybe you can come into the station to fix it up there. They probably won’t listen to me much, though.”

“Why not?” Tobio was legitimately baffled. She seemed so smart, and she’d been arguing for serial kidnappings since the beginning while her partner shut her down.

“Because I’m a woman, because I’m a beta, but my worst crime? Because I’m young,” she laughed bitterly. “I’ve said from the beginning that we should assign protection details to the area omegas on volleyball teams, but no one wanted to listen to me. They tell me I’m jumping to conclusions, even though I’m _right_.”

Tobio nodded. He was starting to think that maybe betas were the smartest of all of them. Maybe that was where their peace keeper stereotype came from. They could analyze discord in packs and plan strategies to overcome it. This woman had seen this for what it was from the beginning and had planned to counteract it too.

Betas were a lot more important than Tobio had ever thought.

“Anyways, my name is Oda Kaede. Here’s my number,” she said, holding out a business card. Tobio took it, slipping it into his pocket. “I’ll try to keep in touch, see if I can get you into the station to repair his bike. And call me if anything else happens, okay? I’ll believe you, even if it sounds crazy.”

Tobio nodded numbly as she gave him a sad smile and walked away, right into the berating her partner gave her. Daichi walked up to his side.

“Everyone gather round,” Daichi called. When everyone had formed a loose circle around him, he started to talk. “We should set up a protection detail for our remaining omega. We’ve said to look out for your omega in the past, and it didn’t work. We need to plan it out so that Kunimi-kun isn’t walking anywhere alone. I’d understand if you wanted to keep this just within your pack,” he nodded to Iwaizumi, “but we’d be happy to help.”

If Kunimi still lived in the same place he did in middle school, Tobio was pretty sure he lived in the opposite direction. It became clear that that was true for almost everyone, except Kindaichi, who’d been walking Kunimi to school anyway. They agreed that Kindaichi would be Kunimi’s protection detail, while Kunimi promised not to walk around alone.

Then Shimizu stepped up.

“We should plan a protection detail for Hitoka-chan as well,” she said, in her quiet but powerful way. Daichi scratched his head.

“I don’t think she’s in much danger since the kidnapper seems to be going after male omegas only, but don’t you, Tanaka, and Ennoshita live in the same direction?”

Shimizu nodded, standing next to Yachi.

“Everyone, be careful,” Daichi said, Iwaizumi nodding beside him. “We cannot afford to lose more members of our packs. Look out for each other.”

Everyone left after that, Kindaichi with Kunimi, and Shimizu, Tanaka, and Ennoshita with Yachi. Tobio walked home listlessly. That anger from before hadn’t gone away. He imagined a faceless, shadowy kidnapper. Tobio wanted to punch them in the face. He wanted to return every hurt they had put upon Hinata.

He wanted Hinata back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I am a nerd, I've created a model for how omegaverse biology works. If anybody is interested, I can clean it up and post it, so all the rules for my verse can be in one place.


	10. Through the Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anybody order any TanaEnno angst? No? Too bad I wanted to write TanaEnno angst.  
> I will be posting the biology model probably tomorrow since I'm not quite done cleaning it up yet.

Walking Yachi home was quiet. After all, Ennoshita and Kiyoko were both quiet people, and Yachi tended to be as well. Ryuu was the only loud one in the bunch, and while he wasn’t opposed to being quiet, this was tense.

Or course it was tense. Every omega on their team except for Yachi was missing. Almost every alpha but Ryuu was mourning the loss of their boyfriend, and the betas were having a hard time keeping everything together.

Ryuu missed his best friend. Noya had been gone for about two weeks, and Ryuu was starting to really worry about Noya’s safety, even if Daichi assured them that Suga was safe and if Suga was safe, so was Noya.

“Hitoka-chan, why don’t you stay with me until we find the other omegas?” Kiyoko offered softly. “We can walk to school together in the mornings.”

Yachi spluttered, turned bright red, but nodded. Ryuu and Ennoshita left them there.

“You know, a year ago you would’ve been wishing to be a fly on the wall at that sleepover,” Ennoshita remarked.

“A year ago I wasn’t dating you,” Ryuu replied. “Come on. Walk you home?”

“I’m just a beta.”

“What do you mean, you’re just a beta?” Ryuu asked. “Why does that mean I shouldn’t walk you home?”

“Whoever’s kidnapping people, they’re going after omegas. I’m just a beta.” Ennoshita sounded sad.

“There’s more to it than that,” Ryuu said. “I know I’m pretty dumb, but did I do something to offend you?”

“No, it’s not you, it’s just…why are you even dating me?”

Ryuu stood stock still for a moment because that was the last thing he’d been expecting.

“Do you want the whole list? Or just the top ten?” He tried to sound like he was joking, because suddenly everything was a lot more tense and he wanted to diffuse it.

“I’m being serious, Tanaka!” Ennoshita exclaimed, the outburst making Ryuu take a step back. “Why are you dating me? I thought you were straight, but even if you like boys too, why would you choose me over an omega?”

“What makes you think I want an omega?” Ryuu asked quietly.

“Why would you want a beta? A male beta,” Ennoshita gave a little self-deprecating laugh. “What can I offer you, in the long run? I can’t give you children or anything.”

“Is that why you think I’m dating you now? Because you think I’m looking for someone to give me children?”

“I don’t know why you’re dating me, that’s why I asked!”

“Because you’re you!”

The both stopped, both panting.

“Because you’re amazing! Because you’re going to be pack leader, whether you know it or not, and that’s so cool! Because even though you’re a beta I want to follow you. Because you kick some serious ass, because you’re really pretty, because you’re smart, because…”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Ennoshita interrupted, although Ryuu wasn’t sure he really did get it. “You like me a lot.”

“You’re incredible, Chikara.”

Ryuu didn’t get to see Ennoshita’s blush much before he pulled him into a hug. They didn’t really call each other by their first names.

“What’s so bad about being a beta, anyway?” he asked. “You, Kinoshita, and Narita are probably the only ones holding this pack together. Kageyama and Yamaguchi are basically always having an emotional meltdown, Daichi can barely hold it together as a pack leader, and Asahi has a lot of his own problems with Noya. You three are the reason this pack hasn’t fallen apart yet.”

“We haven’t done that much,” Ennoshita muttered against Ryuu’s shoulder. “Everyone’s still falling apart. We don’t even know how to find the omegas.”

“But you figured out where Hinata was taken.”

“Kageyama figured that out.”

“He never would’ve listened to that voicemail again and heard the river if you hadn’t given him the idea that it would help Hinata,” Ryuu argued. “Why are you so determined to put yourself down? You got us further to finding the omegas than anyone else, including the police.”

“If we don’t find them soon, this pack is going to fall apart,” Ennoshita said. “There’s not going to be anything we can do to stop that. We just have to hope someone finds the omegas before that happens.”

“Even if you don’t believe in yourself, I believe in you,” Ryuu told him. “You’re incredible. We’ll find the omegas and get the pack back on track, you’ll see. I bet you’ll even be part of figuring out where they are.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You helped figure out where Hinata was taken from. You’re smart, you could probably figure out more than that.”

“You have too much faith in me.”

“You don’t have enough faith in yourself.”

They were quiet for a moment, just enjoying each other’s warmth.

“Come on,” Ryuu said, breaking the silence. “I’ll walk you home. Not because I think I need to protect you. I just want to walk you home.”

Ennoshita was quiet, but at least he squeezed back when Ryuu grabbed his hand. They walked the rest of the way to Ennoshita’s house.

“I still think you could do better than me,” Ennoshita said as they parted ways.

“I think I love you, and I don’t know how I could do better than you,” Ryuu countered, stepping into Ennoshita’s personal space. He kissed him gently on the lips. “You’re incredible. I don’t want anyone else.”

Ennoshita’s usually sleepy eyes were wide, a pink blush across his cheeks.

“Go on, get some sleep. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

Ennoshita nodded, ducking into his house. Ryuu turned to walk home.

It can’t have been easy on the betas, holding the entire team together while the alphas mourned their missing omegas. Ennoshita was probably just feeling the pressure. Ryuu hoped this wasn’t because he was actually insecure in their relationship.

Sure, getting together at the start of this year hadn’t been easy, mainly because Ryuu had been too shy to ask Ennoshita out and Ennoshita had seemed unwilling to ask Ryuu out at all. If it hadn’t been for the intervention of Kinoshita and Narita, they might have never gotten together. Ryuu had had a crush on the pretty beta since first year, but had been too shy to act on it, leaving Ennoshita to stutter out a confession while Kinoshita and Narita stared him down, refusing to let him back out.

But that had been at the beginning of the year, and Ryuu had thought Ennoshita was starting to grow more comfortable in their relationship. Maybe he was, maybe this was just the strain of holding the team together.

Ryuu missed his best friend, and hated watching his boyfriend fray at the edges.

They needed to bring the omegas home soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm going to a con next weekend (Animazement) which will be running from Thursday night to Sunday. If I can get the next chapter done and edited by Thursday I will post early, otherwise it'll be going up on Monday instead of Sunday.  
> Also, you may noticed that I removed the KiyoYachi tag from this fic. There's still going to be some background KiyoYachi, but because it's going to be so minor I don't really want to tag it and have people read this entire fic looking for it only to have it not be there.


	11. Last to Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am with a slightly late update! I was at a con this weekend and unable to write. If you follow me on tumblr, I'll be getting pictures up soon. Have Kindaichi's POV

Kunimi had been a little annoyed by the pack’s decision to keep a guard on him at all times, but recognized it as a necessary step. Yuutarou thought he was secretly grateful, though.

It wasn’t like their routines had changed much. They went to the same school from the same neighborhood and were longtime friends. They walked to school together anyway, ate lunch together, hung out together. The only difference was that Yuutarou now got up a few minutes earlier so he could pick Kunimi up at his house before school and walked him all the way to his door after school rather than splitting off.

“Am I a burden?” Kunimi asked. Yuutarou stared at the side of his head for a minute. Kunimi wasn’t very expressive, at least openly, and his face was impassive. However, they’d been friends for too long for Yuutarou to not notice the slight fidgeting in his fingers and know what it meant.

“Am I treating you like you’re a burden?”

It was the first thing that might be a problem. He’d never said it, but Yuutarou knew Kunimi valued his opinion more than most other people’s. Maybe he was accidentally making Kunimi think he was annoyed with their new routine?

“No, you’re not. I just want to make sure you’re not bothered, walking me around like this.”

“I’m not exactly going out of my way, you know. Besides, anybody else on the team would do the same, we just live in a different direction from everyone else.”

“It’s kind of annoying to think about the whole pack needing to protect me.”

“It’s not because you’re an omega,” Yuutarou shook his head. “Well, I guess it is, since the omegas are the ones going missing. But you really think it would be any different if it was the betas or the alphas? If betas started disappearing, Yahaba-san wouldn’t let Watari-san out of his sight, and Iwaizumi-san and Oikawa-san would do the same for Matsuhana-san and Hanamaki-san.”

Kunimi’s face stayed the same, but he looked more amused now. Which was good.

“You alphas always feel like you need to protect everyone,” he said. “Always playing the guardian angels.”

“Well, it’s our instincts anyway,” Yuutarou grinned. “Besides, you’re my best friend! I don’t want you to go missing.”

Kunimi actually smiled then, and they lapsed into silence.

“Have you ever seen Kageyama look that upset?” Yuutarou asked quietly.

“I don’t think he was even that upset after we abandoned him in middle school,” Kunimi answered. They both looked down. Even if it seemed like it had been the right decision, long term, they both still felt a little guilty about abandoning their teammate like that.

“Is that really what it’s like to lose your omega?” Yuutarou wondered. “I can’t believe he even found an omega that can stand him.”

“That’s not fair.”

“You’re right, it’s not.” Yuutarou sighed. “He’s changed a lot since we knew him, learned how to play on a team and everything. Maybe it’s not a surprise, we both saw how he looked at that shrimp.”

“Maybe you’re just bitter that he learned to change for them and not us,” Kunimi suggested. Yuutarou caught the barest twist of his mouth when he said that. If he was bitter, then so was Kunimi.

“Maybe. But you’re still right, I wasn’t being fair.”

They walked in silence again. It wasn’t uncomfortable, or strained, it was just how they were. Their friendship was a quiet one, although Yuutarou privately thought that was one of the reasons Kunimi agreed to be around him so much. Kunimi had never made a secret of his dislike for overexertion and exhaustion, and loud people tended to exhaust him.

Really, it was to his credit that he’d melded so seamlessly into a pack with so many loud characters.

Yuutarou picked up a sound, or maybe the ghost of a sound, coming from somewhere in the bushes that lined the street. He paused for a moment, searching with his ears. Maybe he’d imagined it?

Kunimi stopped with him, watching as Yuutarou closed his eyes to listen closer.

The sound came again.

“Did you hear that?” Yuutarou asked. Kunimi fixed lazy eyes on him.

“What?”

“It sounded like a baby crying.”

Kunimi didn’t quite change expressions, but Yuutarou recognized it as what would look like a raised eyebrow in anybody else.

“I didn’t hear anything.”

He had his head tipped now, though, listening. He was giving the benefit of the doubt.

“I’m sure I heard it coming from over here,” Yuutarou said, stepping off the road and walking towards the bushes. Kunimi stayed back, staring at him from the side of the road. Yuutarou was sure he’d heard a baby crying…or maybe it was a stray cat, but it had sounded like it was in pain, so he wanted to find it anyway.

He looked left and right, hoping whatever it was would make noise again so he could get to it faster, when his foot caught on something. He glanced down. It looked like a…speaker?

_What?_

A muffled scream pulled his attention back to the road.

To Kunimi.

Yuutarou dropped the speaker and sprinted back. When the bushes cleared, he saw Kunimi struggling harder than Yuutarou had ever seen him struggle in his life, while a tall man plunged a needle into his neck.

Kunimi went limp, and Yuutarou pushed himself even faster. He was so close, just a few more meters. The man locked eyes with him for a moment as he hauled Kunimi’s limp body into a car. The fierce animal instinct, the call to _submit_ , made Yuutarou freeze for a split second.

He’d never felt that kind of subjugation before. The closest he’d ever felt was the respect he felt for Iwaizumi as a head alpha. As an alpha himself, he didn’t think anyone _could_ force him to submit other than a female alpha.

The split second was over and he was sprinting again, eyes locking on the angry red birthmark decorating the man’s face. Yuutarou had practically reached them, could put out his hand and touch the car, when it peeled off, tires squealing.

If he hadn’t frozen for that second, he would’ve made it to them in time.

And now the man was driving away with Yuutarou’s best friend. The same man who, most likely, had taken every other omega recently, the same man who was tearing their packs apart.

“KUNIMI!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was going to be sorry for hurting Kindaichi even though the plot called for it, because this pure child doesn't deserve it, but I swear he is the hardest character I've had to write so far? I don't even know why but this chapter took forever to write to my satisfaction because of him and I'm not sorry anymore.


	12. Target Acquired

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update this week because I've had a lot of time to write! I might be releasing more updates because I can feel the climax coming and I'm kind of impatient to get to the end.

“It’s going to be okay, Kindaichi,” Hajime assured for what felt like the hundredth time. Kindaichi just hung his head in shame, refusing to look up. “This wasn’t your fault.”

“You all trusted me to protect him,” Kindaichi said hollowly. “I left him alone. They took him right in front of me. What good was I?”

“You can’t think like that. It wasn’t your fault,” Hajime repeated. It was looking like nothing was going to shake Kindaichi out of his guilty spiral, though. Hajime sighed and walked back to where the other pack leaders were standing. He noticed Kageyama and the other first year alpha from Karasuno walking over to Kindaichi.

Maybe that was for the best. Hajime knew Kageyama felt just as guilty as Kindaichi for not protecting his own omega, and maybe the other first year whose name Hajime still didn’t know felt the same. Hajime felt guilty for not protecting Tooru, even if there had been no reason to think Tooru needed protecting. They hadn’t even known Yahaba was missing at the time.

Hajime tried to not feel too guilty. He was too busy trying to take care of his pack, although he was shoving a lot of the responsibility onto Makki and Mattsun. Even without the guilt, though, it was hard to not have Tooru by his side. They’d been practically joined at the hip since childhood, and now that they were mated Hajime could feel the tug at his mating bond.

 _Not enough to tell me where he is, though,_ he thought bitterly.

It sucked to lose your omega. He was grieving, Kyoutani was grieving for the omega he wished was his, and Kindaichi was grieving over his best friend. Or maybe they were dating now, Hajime couldn’t tell.

Tooru would have been able to tell.

“What’s going on?” he asked gruffly, trying to force himself out of his own thoughts. Sawamura turned to acknowledge him.

“They’re working on the description Kindaichi-kun was able to give them,” Sawamura said. “I’m sorry you lost one of your’s, but it’s lucky that Kindaichi was able to see the kidnapper. The police _have_ to find the omegas now.”

Hajime tried to pretend the hope he heard in Sawamura’s voice wasn’t forced.

“So what’s going on with them?” he asked, pointing at a beta woman angrily railing against an older alpha. He was leaning away from her, almost cowering, while she practically screamed. Hajime had never seen a beta overpower an alpha like that.

“The woman? Her name is Oda, she’s been arguing for giving us protection details since day one,” Sawamura said, a little bitterly. “She’s thought this was a kidnapping case since we first started losing omegas, and all her partner’s done is tell her not to jump to conclusions.”

“But her conclusions were right,” Ushijima broke in. “Why wouldn’t he listen to her?”

“Kageyama’s talked to her, and according to him it’s because she’s young and a beta,” Sawamura told him.

“I do not understand. Why would being young or a beta make her less right?” Ushijima looked confused, and Hajime had to agree with him. Jumping to conclusions or not, it made sense to try and protect people in danger of being kidnapped.

“I don’t know. I really don’t,” Sawamura bit out. “But if he had listened to her from the start and given protection details to our omegas, most of them wouldn’t even be missing right now.”

Hajime ignored the fact that Tooru was taken before the police were truly involved and that he would be missing either way.

“Come on. Let’s regroup with our packs,” Hajime suggested. “They’re probably looking for answers, too.”

Maybe he was imagining things, but Ushijima looked a little sad at the mention of packs. Hajime wasn’t good at reading people that weren’t Tooru, but he’d heard Ushijima mention earlier that his pack wasn’t well formed. Maybe he was wishing it was, because for now the only support he had was himself.

“Daichi-san, what do we do?” the bald headed second year alpha asked. A black haired beta hovered at his side.

As Sawamura stopped to talk to the two of them, Hajime drifted back over to talk to Kindaichi, leaning against the wall of the gym with Kageyama and the other first year alpha. Hajime really needed to learn the names of all the Karasuno pack members.

“Kindaichi, I know you’re still very upset, but I want to ask you something,” Hajime said, trying to be gentle. Kindaichi finally lifted his head to meet Hajime’s eyes, only for Hajime to wish he never had. Seeing a kid that young look that broken was doing things to Hajime’s chest. “What did the kidnapper look like? I know you already told the police, but please tell me too.”

“He was really tall, and he had this bright red birthmark all over his face,” Kindaichi said, voice marginally less hollow than before. “Kind of older, I think.”

“Tall, older, bright red birthmark…” Hajime mused, before something clicked in his mind. “Hang on.” He pulled out his phone, getting on the internet and searching. “Is this the guy you saw?”

Kindaichi leaned in to inspect the phone before his eyes went wide.

“That’s him! But…how did you know?”

“He’s a scientist. Oikawa did a lot of research into him when we were in middle school. He’s trying to find a way to make humans of all subgenders stronger, but focuses on omegas,” Hajime said. “For a while, he did some research on making male omegas stronger so they could pass on their genes. Oikawa was looking for a way to make himself stronger.”

Kageyama and his friend had been holding a hushed conversation the entire time, but now Kageyama raised his voice enough for Hajime to hear it.

“I don’t think it’s going to help, Yamaguchi.”

_So the other first year alpha is called Yamaguchi._

Hajime filed the information away.

“What’s not going to help?” he asked. Kageyama’s head whipped to him.

“Iwaizumi-san. It’s just…I was talking to Oda-san when we found Hinata’s bike, and she mentioned how clever it was, how he was taken. It was planned out. She called it scientific,” Kageyama said, voice shaking ever so slightly. Hajime had expected the anger in his eyes, was even accustomed to it from his time as head alpha in middle school, but he wasn’t prepared for the sadness there.

“So it sounds like we’re probably right, with this being the guy,” Hajime said. He wondered again why Oda’s partner was ignoring her. She’d figured out before any of them that the kidnapper was smart and scientific. It looked like she was right, if Himura Isao matched the description Kindaichi gave of the kidnapper.

“Did Oikawa-san ever go to see this scientist?” Yamaguchi asked, and Hajime’s blood ran cold.

“No. He didn’t,” Hajime replied, trying to get his heart to start beating again. “Himura was kicked out of his lab for unethical research before Oikawa could. He had some radical ideas about ways to make the human race stronger, usually centered around male omegas. He was kicked out for proposing…that male omegas be bred with a female alpha…oh shit.”

The color drained from Kindaichi and Yamaguchi’s faces, and Kageyama looked like he’d stopped breathing.

“Is…is that why they took our omegas?” Yamaguchi whispered.

“I don’t know,” Hajime choked, knowing his eyes were frozen wide. He turned to share what he’d learned with the other pack leaders, but saw Sawamura and Ushijima standing there already, Makki and Mattsun behind them. From the looks on their faces, they’d already overheard him.

Sawamura looked shocked for a moment, horrified and a little lost, before his face hardened.

“We need to find them. Before something terrible happens to them,” he said, voice as sharp as glass.

“We’ve been looking for them all this time, how are we going to find them?” Makki spoke up, Mattsun nodding with him.

“Now we know who took them. There’s only so many places he can hide,” Sawamura said, face stretching into a scary grin.

Hajime was very glad Sawamura was on his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Semi-important note for the next chapter: mother and father aren't gendered terms in this omegaverse like they are for us. Mother is whoever carries the child, male or female, and father is whoever impregnates their mate, male or female.


	13. Until it Breaks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you may notice the updated tags and rating on this fic. There is every chance that I am overreacting and overtagging, but I would rather overreact and overtag than have someone be bothered by something I write. There will be mentions of blood and injuries in this chapter, but hopefully it won't seem too bad.

Koushi was waking up from taking a nap with the sedatives when he focused in on the conversation between Oikawa and Yahaba.

“Are you sure about that?” Oikawa whispered, tucking a sleeping Kunimi closer to his chest. The kid hadn’t woken up yet, but Oikawa and Yahaba had talked about him enough that Koushi knew his name. “Won’t it hurt?”

“Probably, but it’s starting to feel like they’re teasing me,” Yahaba muttered back. Oikawa sighed.

“Try to keep the damage to a minimum, okay?”

Koushi started sitting up, heart rate picking up. What was Yahaba about to do?

He got his answer soon enough. Yahaba started yanking at the thumb of the hand that was in a cuff. He made a little whining sound, accompanied by the wet sucking sound of the joint popping out of place.

“What are you…?” Koushi tried to ask, quieting when Hinata shifted on his chest. Yahaba looked up at him, eyes glassy, before pulling his hand against the cuff. Dislocating his thumb wasn’t quite enough, it seemed, because his hand wasn’t slipping out easily. He finally yanked hard enough to get it out, tearing the skin on the way.

He sat there whimpering, clutching his bleeding hand to his chest, tears streaming down his face.

“Yahaba-chan?” Oikawa asked quietly.

“I’m f…I’m fine,” Yahaba gasped out. He stood shakily and walked over to pick something up off the ground. Koushi couldn’t quite see what it was, but Yahaba walked back to Oikawa and started using it to fiddle with his handcuffs. With a click, they opened. He moved on to work at Kunimi’s as Koushi realized he was picking the locks.

As soon as Kunimi’s hand was free, Oikawa cradled him closer. Yahaba walked over to Koushi’s group. He knelt down beside Noya, who looked awake and alert after sleeping.

“I’m going to get your cuffs off,” Yahaba told him, reaching out.

“Get Shouyou first,” Noya said. “He’s the most scared.”

Yahaba nodded and walked to Hinata, starting to stir and wake up. Before he was all the way alert, Yahaba had his hand free. He turned to Tsukishima when they heard noises from behind the door.

Yahaba dove across the room just before the door swung completely open, hiding his mangled hand behind Oikawa’s back. Koushi grabbed Tsukishima and Hinata and held them as close to himself as possible.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve brought you here,” the man spoke in a deep, gravelly voice. Everyone in the room froze. He’d never spoken to them before. “I’ll start with this. I’m a scientist, a researcher into the natures of the different subgenders, and specifically how to make them stronger. I’ve chosen you all specifically for an experiment.”

_What?_

“You’re all here for slightly different reasons. You three,” he pointed to Koushi, Oikawa, and Yahaba, “are here for your beauty.

“You two,” Noya and Hinata, “have a special kind of fire in you that can’t be taught.

“You,” Tsukishima, “are tall, and probably stronger than you look. And you,” he turned to Tendou. “Well, you’re not very pretty, are you? But you’re the strongest omega here, and strength is just as important as beauty for this experiment.

“As for you,” he turned finally to Kunimi. “You’re basically useless, aren’t you? Not particularly pretty, not particularly strong, no fire in you. I almost didn’t bother taking you, but it is better to have all the omegas of a pack together during pregnancy; raises the success rates.”

Koushi couldn’t see much of a change in Kunimi’s expression, but Yahaba and Oikawa both looked scandalized on his behalf. Koushi himself was feeling angry. He was ripped away from his pack and his mate just because he was pretty?

“And now, for the actual experiment,” the man rubbed his hands together almost gleefully. “As I’m sure you know, female alphas are particularly rare, and only really happen due to random chance. However, male omegas statistically are most likely to produce female alphas by random chance. A shame, then, that it’s impossible, even with our modern technology, for a female alpha to impregnate a male omega. Impossible, that is, until this experiment.”

Koushi felt his heart dropping, because he saw where this was going.

“Using the latest medical technology, some designed by myself, you will all be carrying children fathered by a female alpha,” the man announced, seeming rather proud of himself. “At the end of this, your children will be going through a regimen planned by myself to make them stronger. We will force the evolution of the human race to go faster, and you will be the mothers of a new, stronger breed of humans.”

“We’re just kids,” Oikawa broke in scathingly. “We can’t have our own kids yet. Besides, some of us are mated. How are you going to get us _pregnant_ when we have a mate?” He turned his head defiantly to the side to show his mating mark.

“Easily enough,” the man said, not looking phased. “There are drugs in your food to suppress your mating bond, enough for this experiment anyway.” Oikawa looked furious, but before he could speak again the man went on. “Omegas in history would bear their first pups younger than even the youngest there. Childhood has been extended in our modern age. Society is too soft on you. Omegas should be bearing children early and often, particularly male omegas since your bodies need to rest for longer between pregnancies.”

Koushi frantically tried to feel for his mating bond. Even if he couldn’t contact Daichi, even if he couldn’t send messages and only felt the strongest emotions, he should still be able to feel the bond, leading off somewhere.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t feel the comforting hum of a mating bond, reminding him that Daichi was still out there and probably looking for him. He bit back a sob.

“Now then,” the man continued. “I’ll have to run some bloodwork on you all, as well as a physical examination to determine how well you’ll take to pregnancy. We’ll start with you.” He walked over to Noya.

“Stay away from him!” Koushi shouted, trying to jump to his feet, ignoring the twinge in his shoulder when the cuff pulled at his arm.

“Now, now, you’ll have your chance eventually,” the man said absentmindedly, uncuffing Noya and picking him up. Noya tried to fight back, but it was hard against a man so much stronger than him, particularly a man who was sending so many dominant pheromones out that every omega in the room was instinctively baring their throat.

“Noya! Let him go, Noya!” Koushi desperately strained against the handcuff, practically throwing himself away from it to try and get to Noya. “Noya! Put him down, give him back! NOYA!”

In his desperation and rush of adrenaline, he barely noticed the sick popping noise as his shoulder dislocated. He couldn’t really feel the pain.

It was all for nothing, though. Noya disappeared from the room, screaming at the top of his lungs. Koushi collapsed into tears, starting to feel the pain from his shoulder now.

“Suga-san?” Hinata asked hesitantly, pressing into Koushi’s side. Koushi just sobbed. He should’ve been able to protect Noya, somehow, should’ve offered himself up instead, he was head omega, it was his _job_ to protect the other omegas.

“It’s not your fault,” Oikawa said, squatting down in front of him. “You couldn’t have stopped him, none of us could have stopped him.”

“What do we do?” Koushi asked hopelessly.

“Well, first, Yahaba-chan will get the rest of you out of those cuffs,” Oikawa said gently. “And then,” his face twisted into a grin worthy of Kageyama, “we hit him until he breaks. We’re getting out of here, and we’re leaving no man behind.”

Koushi sobbed again, but he felt the anger setting in. If this man thought he could just force them all to carry children for his sick experiment, he had another think coming.


	14. The Lone Omega

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in honor of the recent UshiTen week (this is a lie, my outline just conveniently got me to two chapters that were from Tendou and Ushijima's POVs respectively) this week's double update with feature a chapter from Tendou and a chapter from Ushijima.

The silver haired setter from Karasuno was still crying. Satori thought his name was Sugawara, but being tucked in a corner away from the two packs, he wasn’t sure. The Seijoh setter who’d ripped his hand out of the cuff was picking the locks of all the Karasuno omegas, wincing as every motion jarred his hand. Satori expected to continue to sit in silence, observing, and was almost surprised when the Seijoh came over to get him out of the cuffs.

“I don’t know your name,” he said quietly, tears forming in his eyes from all the strain on his hand. “But I’m Yahaba Shigeru.”

“Tendou Satori,” Satori said slowly. He wasn’t quick to trust and this was no exception. He stayed seated as Yahaba walked back to the group. Yahaba turned back to him, looking confused.

“Aren’t you coming?” he asked, no malice or judgement coloring his voice. Satori was used to those.

“Why?”

“You’ve been by yourself for days, aren’t you touch starved?”

Well, yeah. He kind of was, but then again he was usually in some state of touch starved, so this wasn’t all that different. It had gotten better ever since he’d started dating Wakatoshi, but being the unlikely omega son of an alpha father and a beta mother who had no use for “an omega slut” as a child meant a lifetime of being touch starved.

So. Satori was used to it.

Still, there was nothing _mean_ about Yahaba’s question, and Sugawara had calmed down enough to call him over as well. He stood warily, still not one to trust easily. He’d had that trust too many times to give it to anybody who hadn’t earned it.

“We should fix your shoulder,” the youngest Seijoh spoke for the first time, pointing to Sugawara.

“Can you do that, Kunimi?” Yahaba asked. Kunimi nodded.

“Can you hold his upper body still?” Kunimi asked Satori, who had just sat beside Sugawara. It had seemed like the safest place at the time, seeing as Sugawara had called him over and Yahaba was beside someone Satori knew all too well.

Satori nodded, placing a hand on Sugawara’s good shoulder and another on his hip.

“Anyone else close enough, try to comfort him. This works best if he’s calm,” Kunimi went on, reaching for Sugawara’s bad hand. Everyone close enough placed a hand somewhere on Sugawara, most on his legs.

Nodding and taking a deep breath, Kunimi bent Sugawara’s elbow to ninety degrees. He slowly pulled the wrist towards himself and out, waiting every time Sugawara’s arm spasmed or he whimpered. When the wrist was far enough away from the body, Kunimi pushed up as Sugawara whimpered louder. Satori smoothed a hand gently across his good shoulder, trying to soothe him and also to keep him from moving. Kunimi finally moved the wrist back in, laying it across Sugawara’s chest.

“We should put it in a sling,” Kunimi said. He looked like he hadn’t changed expressions once through the entire ordeal, but his face was paler.

“I have my school tie,” Yahaba offered. That meant he’d probably been kidnapped on his way to school. Satori had been taken walking home by himself after volleyball practice, meaning that he’d been in his sweaty workout clothes for days.

Kunimi took the tie and looped it around Sugawara’s neck, tying his arm in place across his chest. Sugawara was ashen, scent belying how calm he was trying to appear. He dropped his head to Satori’s shoulder, breaths coming a little too fast.

Satori froze up, but Sugawara didn’t pay any attention to that. Instead, the little redhead climbed into his lap, careful of his hurt shoulder, and laid his head on Sugawara’s good shoulder, turning his eyes up to Satori.

“You’re the middle blocker from Shiratorizawa, right?” he asked. Satori started a little, but nodded. “You were pretty good. You kept getting in the way of my spikes. How did you do that?”

“I’m good at guess blocking,” Satori replied. He wasn’t entirely sure what to do with the weak look of hero worship the kid was giving him.

“You were always so fast! Like gwaa and pow!” he waved his hands around.

“Hinata, if you’re going to be in my lap, you have to sit still,” Sugawara said, sounding pained. Hinata immediately froze.

“Sorry, Suga-san,” he apologized.

“Why don’t you get something to eat?” Sugawara suggested. “It’s been a while, and it might help you settle down.”

Hinata nodded, coaxing his blonde companion out of the ball he’d curled into to get food as well. On the other side of Satori, Oikawa was urging his packmates to do the same. Kunimi seemed happy enough to comply, but Yahaba was putting up a fight.

“You need to eat, Yahaba-chan.”

“So do you, Oikawa-san, you’ve eaten less than me since we got here.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have to eat!”

“I will if you will.”

“Just do it,” Sugawara interrupted. “I’m going to stay awake anyway, I don’t want to shift my shoulder in my sleep. Tendou can stay up with me and watch the kids.”

Satori started a little, but nodded. They’d let him into their group and his omegan instinct to protect children was coming out, particularly for Hinata and Kunimi.

As everyone who was going to eat finished eating, they started settling back into the cuddle pile. Hinata and the blonde settled around Sugawara, Hinata in Sugawara’s lap and the blonde curled into Hinata’s stomach, tucked between Sugawara and Satori. He could feel the heat radiating from all of them.

Yahaba laid down in front of all of them, curling his body in an arc, and Oikawa cuddled behind him, protecting his back. Kunimi plopped himself in Satori’s lap, but before Satori could ask why Kunimi’s sleepy eyes had already drifted shut.

The younger omegas were already falling asleep, but Oikawa stubbornly kept his eyes open.

“You know, you’re pretty nice, for someone from Shiratorizawa,” he said, yawning. Satori tensed, before anger ripped through his chest.

“You have no right to talk,” he choked out. “ _Pretty nice for someone from Shiratorizawa?_ What, just because we beat you in volleyball means we’re bad people? I should be the one mad at you, you’re the one my boyfriend is obsessed with!”

“I…wait what?” Oikawa faltered.

“Wakatoshi has always been “Oikawa this, Oikawa that, Oikawa should have come to Shiratorizawa” and I’m sick of it!” Satori snapped. “You’ve got that vice-captain of yours, leave my boyfriend alone!”

“I…you think…wait, is that really what you think?” Oikawa looked genuinely confused. “You think Ushijima’s interested in courting me?”

“What else am I supposed to think?”

“Maybe that he’s so infatuated with you he’s not interested in me?” Oikawa suggested. “I mean as much as I like to consider myself a breaker of alpha hearts, he’s never been interested in me as a potential mate, we both knew that. He just wanted me on your volleyball team, and let’s face it, it’s because I’m better than either of your setters.”

Satori bristled at that, because no one insulted Kenjirou or Eita in front of him, but Sugawara nudged his shoulder with his forehead to stop a tirade.

“You two are going to wake the kids. You’re being stupid,” he sighed. “First of all, Oikawa, it’s not nice to tease.” Oikawa looked down with sleepy eyes, duly scolded. “And Tendou, he’s not wrong. I barely played in our match and it was pretty obvious that Ushijima-san is head over heels in love with you.”

“But you’re so much prettier than me,” Satori said, and immediately regretted it.

“This isn’t because that guy said you were ugly, is it?” Sugawara asked.

“Because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, first of all, and also you’re not ugly,” Oikawa chimed in. “I mean, yes, no one will ever rival my beauty,” he winced as Sugawara pinched his thigh, “but you’re not ugly. And I don’t think Ushijima cares about that, anyway. You probably won him over with your volleyball skills, knowing him.”

Satori sat quietly for a moment, mulling this over. Wakatoshi wasn’t interested in courting Oikawa. Oikawa wasn’t trying to steal Wakatoshi. Wakatoshi wasn’t going to leave him for someone better.

“By the way, you don’t think one of your younger omegas is going to be taken here, do you?” Sugawara asked him. “I mean, it’s hard to take care of your kids when you’re scared, you don’t want to be playing head omega right now.”

“I…I’m not,” Satori stammered, looking at the confused faces Sugawara and Oikawa directed at him. “I’m not head omega.”

“Is there an older or more qualified omega on your team?” Sugawara asked.

“He has to be on the bench, I would’ve remembered him otherwise,” Oikawa added.

“No, I mean…I’m the only omega on the team,” Satori tried to explain. The real answer, of course, was more complicated. He wasn’t the head omega because, by and large, he tried not to be too obvious about the fact that he was an omega at all, but also because he probably wasn’t qualified to take care of anyone. And Shiratorizawa didn’t really need a head omega, anyway.

“Wait, really? The only one?” Sugawara asked. “Doesn’t that get lonely?”

“Well, he would get plenty of cuddles from all the alphas and betas, so maybe it evens out,” Oikawa suggested.

“No I don’t.” Satori really needed to get his brain-to-mouth filter up and running again.

“Why not?” Both looked legitimately curious.

“Look, I’m the only omega on the team because our coach doesn’t think omegas should be playing sports. He’s traditional. I only got on because I proved how good I was, and even then I was on the bench until the tail end of last year, even though I was better than some of the alphas and betas on the team. What do you think he would do if I had to ask for special concessions because I’m an omega? Stop practice sessions because I suddenly need a hug, take a week off because I’m in _heat_ , cower because an alpha got too far into my personal space? I’d be right back on that bench, if he didn’t kick me off the team first.”

Satori took a deep breath, rant suddenly draining him. Oikawa looked at him with…was that respect? Sugawara nudged his shoulder again.

“You know there’s nothing shameful about being an omega…right?” he asked slowly. “And it’s not as bad as you’re making it sound, usually being an omega doesn’t even affect practice. We get any touch we need when we’re just hanging out, as friends. We plan heats for our vacations. And if an alpha ever got too close, we wouldn’t even need to cower, because our pack would protect us, not because they think we can’t defend ourselves, but because they’re our friends.”

Oikawa nodded, eyes finally slipping closed as he succumbed to the sedatives.

“You’re dating Ushijima, right? Doesn’t he help you?” Sugawara asked.

“I’m not weak. I don’t need him to take care of me,” Satori scoffed, despite a part of him wanting nothing more than that.

“It’s not an issue of weakness or taking care of you,” Sugawara said. “It’s about taking care of each other. A relationship is all about give and take. Daichi takes care of me when I’m scared or need cuddles, I take care of him when he has self-doubts or when he’s overwhelmed by everything. It’s probably the same with Oikawa and Iwaizumi, and every other couple. You don’t have to be ashamed to ask your boyfriend to hug you.”

Satori looked down. Sugawara seemed so earnest, but could he really believe that? Could he really believe that there was no shame in being an omega after being called an omega slut by his own parents? He knew that Wakatoshi loved him, but the part that had been mocked mercilessly for years for having the audacity to be born omega and not even having the decency to be pretty had its doubts.

“He’s coming for you, you know,” Sugawara said. “Before the ma…before the mating bond faded, I could tell Daichi was coming after us, and Oikawa could tell the same of Iwaizumi. They’re looking for us, and so is Ushijima, and they’re going to find us.”

He sounded so sure. Who was Satori to doubt him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything is a lie, this chapter was originally supposed to be in Oikawa's POV and I wrote most of it in his POV before I decided I liked it better in Tendou's and rewrote it.  
> Also, just know that I watched at least 5 videos on shoulder dislocation to write this chapter accurately. I am more scarred than you. Just know that I am more scarred than you by this fic.


	15. Swan Song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ushijima's POV!

Wakatoshi was…lost. It seemed like a good word for how he felt, even if he was completely sure of his current location. It was the only way he could sum up the confusion in his mind and the vague fear and dread that swirled in his chest, reminiscent of the time he’d lost his mother in the supermarket.

Without even noticing, he’d started to rely on Satori being by his side. He’d started to expect the jokes that he didn’t quite understand and the weird gestures that felt friendly, such as Satori putting hands over his eyes and asking him to guess. He always guessed correctly. Satori was the only one who ever did that.

So now he was lost. There had been a time, quite a bit of his life, when he’d existed without Satori, but it seemed that wasn’t possible anymore.

They hadn’t been dating long, of course. He’d worked up the courage to confess to Satori only a few months ago, but it had been worth it to see the shock on Satori’s face morph into that wide grin of his that he loved the best.

And not much had changed. They still played volleyball together, Satori still laughed his head off at jokes Wakatoshi didn’t understand before patiently explaining them, he still insisted on having anime marathons because he considered it a crime that Wakatoshi hadn’t seen any. His face lit up in the cutest way whenever they held hands or spent time together.

He’d been worried ever since Sawamura and Iwaizumi noticed they couldn’t feel their mates through their bonds anymore. They were certain they would have felt it had their mates died, saying it was more like something was getting in the way of the bond. But what could’ve happened to get in the way of a mating bond? Wakatoshi had never heard of anything like it.

“Hey, isn’t that your team?” Sawamura asked, jarring him out of his thoughts. Wakatoshi looked up to see that, yes, Reon was coming in the door, closely followed by Semi and Shirabu, trailed by Kawanishi, Yamagata, and Goshiki.

“What are you all doing here?” he asked.

“We heard you were looking for Tendou. We want to help,” Reon said.

“You do?”

“You think I’m going to let my best friend stay missing?” Semi asked, looking scandalized. “Besides, Shirabu has some ideas.”

“They’re nothing special, just some thoughts I had because Semi wouldn’t stop whining about how much he misses Tendou,” Shirabu said coolly, but his ears tinted pink. He sat down beside Ennoshita, both looking at a computer and murmuring softly to each other.

Semi stepped behind them, placing a hand on Shirabu’s lower back as Shirabu leaned his head on Semi’s shoulder. These kinds of gestures had become common between the two of them, but Satori always said it meant something more than the obvious, so Wakatoshi should probably believe what he’d said about Semi’s feelings for Shirabu.

“What do we know so far?” Reon asked, looking between Wakatoshi, Sawamura, and Iwaizumi.

“We know who the kidnapper is,” Iwaizumi spoke up. “One of our alphas, Kindaichi, saw him when our last omega, Kunimi, was kidnapped. He’s a scientist, or at least he was before they kicked him out of his lab for unethical research. He’s been looking at genetics and breeding patterns to make humans stronger.”

“That’s why we have to find the omegas quickly,” Sawamura cut in. “Something very bad could happen to them otherwise. He took a full pack’s worth of omegas each time, which kind of makes sense if you consider that he’s probably planning for most of them to be pregnant at the same time. It would make it easier for them to carry to term.”

“We think he chose our omegas both because they all play a sport, which makes them strong, and for their looks,” Wakatoshi added. Reon furrowed his brow.

“I think Tendou was probably taken more for his strength than his beauty,” he commented.

“Why do you say that? Tendou is beautiful,” Wakatoshi said.

“Don’t worry about it. He’s missing, so the point is we have to get him back,” Reon continued quickly.

“We have to get them all back,” Wakatoshi corrected.

“Hey guys! We might have something over here,” Semi called. Everyone walked over to look at the computer screen.

“Based on what Ennoshita-san told me about the kidnapper and why you think he’s kidnapped your omegas, I put the information into an algorithm I created,” Shirabu said, touching a flash drive plugged into the computer. “We know he’s probably conducting an experiment with the omegas. We can assume it would need to be somewhere out of the way or soundproof, or both. We can assume he would need a place to install medical equipment as well as standard chemistry and biology lab equipment, which would mean he needs a place with power or a generator and somewhere not too run down so his experiment won’t be affected by the elements. Based on that…” he clicked a button and a map zoomed and came into focus, “these are the most likely places the omegas could be.”

A map with five or six red flags showed up on screen.

“That’s incredible,” Tanaka gasped, looking at Ennoshita with pride. “So we just check all these places until we find the omegas?”

“We have no guarantees the omegas will be in any of these places,” Ennoshita replied, flushing a little. “This is just a guess, although Shirabu-kun’s program is impressive.”

“Please, it would’ve been useless without all those assumptions you made about the kind of place he would be keeping the omegas,” Shirabu waved his hand dismissively. “I just input all your information into the program.”

“Don’t be so modest, pretty boy, you came up with a bunch of this yourself,” Semi said, ruffling Shirabu’s hair. Shirabu pushed him off, looking annoyed but also blushing.

“Can we go to all of these?” Yamaguchi asked. “Wouldn’t that be dangerous, with just us?”

“There’s safety in numbers, but I’d still rather be safe than sorry,” Sawamura answered. “We should get the police involved, but I’m worried about how they’ll handle this based off how they’ve handled everything else.”

“I can call Oda-san,” Kageyama said quietly. “Maybe she’ll know what to do. She promised to believe me with anything I brought to her, maybe she can figure something out.”

The talk descended into discussions before Kageyama pulled out his phone to call his police officer. Wakatoshi leaned down to talk to Shirabu privately now that the focus was on Kageyama.

“Did you really write an entire program just to find Tendou?” he asked softly.

“Well, not really. I mean, I mostly copied it from existing source code, so…” Shirabu trailed off at the blank look Wakatoshi must have been giving him. He sighed. “Sure, fine I wrote an entire program to help find Tendou.”

“Thank you. That means a lot to me,” Wakatoshi said. He tried to convey his sincerity well. According to Satori, sometimes even when he meant what he said, his naturally blank face made people think he was mocking them. Shirabu smiled a little, clearly not thinking so.

“Just because we don’t act like a real pack doesn’t mean you’re the only one who cares about Tendou-san,” he said, more gently than his normal tone. “He might pretend not to need us and we might pretend not to need him as our head omega, but it’s all lies. We’re all here because we need him back.”

Wakatoshi nodded gratefully, thinking about how, even though Satori tried so hard not to act like the omega he was, it didn’t work. He thought about how he mothered the younger players, Shirabu and Goshiki in particular, and suddenly Shirabu’s desire to find Satori made a lot more sense. He thought about how, when they were first years, Satori had taken suppressants like they were going out of fashion to keep from even remotely acting or smelling like an omega, to the point that he overdosed and would have died if not found shaking and crying by Wakatoshi, Semi, and Reon.

He thought about how Satori still refused to ask or even allow himself to be cuddled by the team when it was obvious to even Wakatoshi that he was getting touch starved. Wakatoshi did his best in those instances to cuddle him anyway, but he wished he could read his boyfriend well enough that those times never happened in the first place.

“ _You deserve better,_ ” he thought into the air, hopefully in Satori’s general direction. “ _I’m going to find you, and I’m going to give you better._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a side note, Reon was not calling Tendou ugly. He was only pointing out that, since Tendou isn't classically beautiful, he probably wasn't taken for his looks. No one on Shiratorizawa actually thinks Tendou is ugly, the only reason people thought Tendou was ugly when he was a kid is because kids are shitty and also because Tendou's parents are shitty.


	16. Lost Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this time I'm sorry.   
> Noya's POV

Yuu didn’t remember much after the man grabbed him, just struggling and screams that mixed with Suga’s. He remembered fighting hands that held him strong as steel until actual steel held his wrists again. He remembered jerking his hand against the cuffs until his wrists bled.

And then he was still. He was tired, and there was no point in fighting anyway. He wasn’t going to get his hands free, and even if he did, he wasn’t going to be able to get away.

“Is all that fire burned out of you now?” the man asked, face stretching into what was maybe a grin.

_I’m not going to waste it on you._

“Well, hold still now, this’ll only be harder on both of us if you struggle,” the man continued, poking a needle into the bend of Yuu’s elbow. Yuu looked away, barely flinching.

_Asahi…_

“Maybe you have less fire than I thought you did,” the man shook his head, drawing blood samples. “This isn’t even worth a reaction?”

_I’m so sorry…_

“It shouldn’t be long now. Just have to run a few tests on your blood, then I’ll give you a physical examination. With any luck, you’ll be pregnant within the week.”

Yuu felt his stomach roil, felt like he was going to throw up. _With any luck, he’d be pregnant within a week._

He was only seventeen.

He tried to ignore the man, tried to ignore being pinched and prodded. He tried to clear his thoughts, tried to think nothing, but his thoughts kept circling back to Asahi.

Was that fight really going to keep ruining everything?

It had all been a misunderstanding, really. Asahi was timid, Yuu had known that going into their relationship. Asahi was nervous about messing their relationship up, nervous about dating a kouhai, nervous, nervous, nervous.

Yuu had always been bold, but had only been criticized for it after presenting as an omega in middle school. He’d laughed in the face of anyone who told him he should be demure and submissive and became all the wilder.

But Asahi, despite his delinquent looks, was not wild. Even holding hands in public made him nervous, because what if people stared?

Officially, the fight was about volleyball. Asahi had refused to his a spike at the end, refused to hit a ball Yuu had saved. Yuu screamed about how he couldn’t fight in the air and therefore it was the job of everyone else to fight for him, when was he was really yelling was,

_Don’t be afraid to hold my hand in public! Don’t be afraid to kiss me! Don’t be afraid this relationship is going to end! Don’t be afraid of me! I’m not going anywhere!_

But Asahi was.

He left the team. Left Yuu. Still, Yuu thought it was just a fight. They would talk it out, they would both apologize, and everything would be fine.

Asahi didn’t.

Asahi assumed he had messed up their relationship. Asahi assumed it was over.

At the end of Yuu’s suspension, when he returned to the gym expecting to see Asahi practicing, maybe teaching the new first years, ready to yell at his boyfriend for ignoring him for a month. Instead he found a team lacking an ace, and finally realized what he should have a month ago.

So he cornered Asahi after he had finally returned to practice. It had taken a lot of help from Suga and Daichi before they finally talked things out and were happily dating again.

But that fight had scared Yuu, because what if they had a misunderstanding again? What if they didn’t survive this one?

So Yuu became the timid one. But maybe he could never tell Asahi now; maybe he had just hurt his boyfriend by pulling away these last few weeks.

Maybe he could never tell Asahi that he wanted to mate now.

He had made the decision slowly, just like he had made the decision to start dating Asahi. He had thought about it over the course of the year, thought about his relationship with Asahi and what he wanted from it. He never wanted to be without Asahi again, not knowing what it was like to be without him after that fight.

And it had only been cemented when he found out that Asahi didn’t intend to go away to university, instead staying nearby and working at his uncle’s tea shop. It was a quiet job, perfectly suited to a quiet person like Asahi. It would give him the time he needed to play volleyball with the neighborhood association, something he was excited about. Best of all, it would keep him close to Yuu, meaning they wouldn’t have to end their relationship.

And Yuu never wanted to.

He’d been afraid of scaring the glass hearted alpha off by just bluntly popping the question, which had been his first instinct, so instead he had danced around the issue, withdrawing as he tried to come up with a plan. He’d even gone to Suga, asking for advice in asking Asahi. Suga had only told him to follow his instincts, and that saying it bluntly might be the best choice for Asahi.

He wished he had listened to Suga and his instincts, because now it looked like he might not be able to tell Asahi anything at all. There was no guarantee he would survive this, and even if he did, would Asahi still want him?

A tear dripped down his face.

“Are you really this weak?” the man scoffed. “Maybe you won’t be useful to this experiment, after all.”

Some part of Yuu hoped that meant he would be spared, that maybe he could even run away and bring back help for the others. Maybe he could get back to Asahi.

“Ah well. Maybe you can be the control, then,” the man shrugged. “As soon as these tests finish up in a few hours I’ll examine you. After that, we’ll see what we can do about getting you pregnant.”

Yuu rattled his hands in their cuffs weakly. He didn’t have any hope of getting out of here, but he needed to. Suga had said Daichi was looking for them, which meant the whole pack was looking for them.

Asahi was looking for them.

The only hope Yuu had left was that Asahi find him before it was too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you, like me, occasionally need to cleanse yourself of angst then you, like me, should check out [ @pkmnshippings ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/pkmnshippings/pseuds/pkmnshippings/)'s a/b/o collection ([ Joyful](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6840763/) is my favorite)


	17. Last Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another double update, a little early since I have to work all day tomorrow and otherwise wouldn't be able to update until very late.  
> I've kind of slipped in some more beta stuff, since one of the themes of this fic is this importance of betas in packs.  
> Also, as a side note, the alpha chapters are significantly behind the omega chapters, so this chapter actually occurs chronologically before the last chapter. For this reason, the next two chapters are from alpha's POVs to catch up for the finale.  
> Daichi's POV.

“-ichi? Daichi?”

Daichi jolted. He hadn’t been thinking, not exactly. He’d been zoned out, not really taking anything in, not really turning anything over in his mind. Just…existing.

He felt fuzzy.

“Are you doing okay?” Asahi asked again. Daichi vaguely realized that he’d been asked the same question several times already.

“Yeah, I’m…I’m fine,” he said. The words were a little slow in his mouth, like he’d just been asleep. Which he hadn’t. He’d been awake and walking for the better part of an hour.

“You don’t look fine,” Asahi commented. “You looked like you were miles away.”

“I wasn’t really anywhere,” Daichi admitted. Asahi looked closer at him.

“Suga?” he asked.

“I guess. You haven’t been…just spacing out and thinking about nothing, have you?” Daichi asked. He was only a little worried. Only a little.

“No. I’ve mostly been angry,” Asahi said. Daichi believed the rage he saw flickering in Asahi’s eyes. It was an unusual sight. Daichi knew Asahi had fire in him, of course, usually teased him because that sometimes drew the fire out. Anyone who’d played with Asahi, stood on the same court as him, knew there was something powerful hidden in that glass heart.

But Asahi didn’t often show it on the outside. To see true anger in his eyes now showed just how deep it ran.

And all Daichi felt was numb.

“Noya’s been missing longer than Suga. I don’t understand why I’m the only one who feels different,” Daichi sighed. There was a spark, maybe, and as he chased it, he realized it was anger. Someone had taken Suga away. Suga, who was mischievous and bright, who pulled pranks and would defend anyone in their pack with his life. His mate.

Someone had taken his mate away, and part of Daichi was furious.

“You’re mated to Suga. It’s not the same thing,” Asahi said. He cut Daichi off before he could protest. “I’m not saying I love Noya less. But there’s something special about a mating bond, we all know that. Iwaizumi-san’s not doing any better than you. Mated pairs aren’t meant to be separated.”

Daichi nodded thoughtfully.

“I think we’re almost there.”

They were coming up on the first place Ennoshita and Shirabu had identified as a possible location for the omegas.

“Everyone split into pairs,” Daichi called to everyone. “Go in threes if you have to, but no one goes alone.”

The first years banded together, as did the Seijoh betas. Iwaizumi went with Ushijima while the rest of Shiratorizawa divided into pairs and a group of three amongst themselves. Daichi stuck close to Asahi while Tanaka went with the Karasuno betas.

Daichi was careful to keep his mind grounded as he and Asahi walked through the building that was clearly abandoned but not yet crumbling. He couldn’t afford to zone out again, couldn’t afford to maybe miss some sign of the omegas.

He tilted his head from time to time. If Suga was here, he would be able to recognize the scent. But there was no scent of Suga. There was no indication that any at all had been here recently.

Daichi sighed. The omegas weren’t here. He and Asahi walked back to the front of the building to meet up with everyone.

It was only the middle of the day, and another place Ennoshita and Shirabu had identified was close by, so they started walking there. There was a scent of unease over everyone, especially the first years. Daichi tried not to be so worried about that. He had to keep up hope that this time, this place, he would find his mate.

He worried about the state of his own mind otherwise.

When they got to the new place, looking a lot older and more run down than the last, Shirabu and Ennoshita admitted that this place wasn’t very likely, but was still a possibility. Everyone split up the same way as they had last time as they went to search.

Daichi looked around. The last place had looked like a warehouse, mostly empty, but this was more like a factory. It was obvious where machines would have chugged noisily and people would have walked when the factory was working in some long forgotten time.

It was eerie, walking around this place that was clearly once so lively. Daichi could almost see the ghosts of people working, walking, talking, living. There was such a disconnect between what the factory had once been and what it was now.

It was like their pack. There were empty spaces where the omegas had once lived, still obvious but now unfilled. The missing omegas had left behind eerie spaces where talking, laughter, life should have been. Daichi didn’t have a word for the feeling of emptiness and sadness that came from a place that should have been bustling with life, but their pack was as empty as this rusting, forgotten factory.

“Let’s go back,” Asahi suggested. “I can smell you being sad from over here. Besides, we would have noticed something by now if the omegas were here.”

Daichi nodded listlessly. He and Asahi wandered back through the hallways to the front, when they heard shouting. Glancing at each other, they broke into a sprint.

Kageyama and Kindaichi were shouting at each other. Yamaguchi had the back of Kageyama’s shirt in a death grip, while Iwaizumi had wrapped arms around Kindaichi’s waist.

“At least I could pick up the phone if my omega ever called me for help!” Kindaichi shouted.

“At least I didn’t let my omega get taken right in front of me!” Kageyama screamed back.

“ _Enough!_ ” came shouts from the side. Daichi felt a wave of calm wash over him, and he froze, dropping his arm which he’d picked up to grab Kageyama.

The betas were all standing together, facing the fighting alphas. Ennoshita and Shirabu stood in front, arms crossed, an impenetrable unit. They were clearly the ones who had shouted.

“We know you’re upset, but fighting isn’t going to solve anything,” Ennoshita said. “We still have more places we can check.”

“We are _going_ to find the omegas,” Shirabu continued. “No matter what it takes.”

“We can’t do that if we fight,” Hanamaki cut in, Matsukawa nodding beside him.

“So what do we do now?” Daichi asked, tongue feeling swollen. Whatever pheromone the betas had released, it had all but paralyzed the alphas.

“We go home,” Ennoshita said. “We’re out of daylight anyway, it’s not like we could check another place today. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

“Kageyama should call his detective,” Shirabu suggested. “Maybe she got luckier than us.”

Kageyama nodded, reaching for his phone. Daichi turned to talk to Ennoshita.

“I didn’t know betas could do that,” he intoned. “I’ve heard of it, but I never knew betas could really calm an entire pack by themselves.”

“Honestly, neither did I, but we had to do something,” Ennoshita admitted. “That fight could have destroyed all of us. If we can’t trust each other, how are we supposed to work together?”

“Thank you,” Daichi said fervently. Ennoshita gave him a sad look.

“I want to find the omegas too,” he said. “I know I’m not mated to one, but they’re my pack too. They’re my friends too. I want Suga and Noya and Hinata and Tsukishima back.”

“Nothing,” Kageyama announced. Daichi turned to see him staring at his phone as if it had betrayed him. “Oda-san and her friends didn’t find anything either.”

“Then we just have to try again tomorrow,” Daichi said. “You heard Shirabu. We are _going_ to find the omegas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in case I am exactly as bad at describing as I think I am, Daichi is dissociating. This is based off my own experience with dissociation (zoning out and losing time, feeling fuzzy and slow when I come back to reality).


	18. End of the Line

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notice the adjusted chapter count. I have no idea how I got 21 from my outline, but I went back and counted and I actually have 19. The last chapter is going to be a short-ish epilogue.   
> Kageyama's POV

Tobio shivered a little despite the warmth of the day. It would be spring soon, and the sun was getting warmer every day. It was kind of hard to appreciate without his own personal sun beside him.

Oda had promised to help look through some of the places Ennoshita and Shirabu had suggested with the help of some friends from the police academy who owed her a favor. She warned that she couldn’t do much, as this was outside her jurisdiction. The only reason she could check at all was because most of the places were abandoned and many didn’t have owners. Officially speaking, she and her friends were just exploring.

At each place they had checked yesterday, Tobio had gotten his hopes up that this time, he would get to see Hinata, get to apologize for letting Hinata get kidnapped, get to protect Hinata from ever being taken away again. At each place, he was disappointed.

He wasn’t the only one. Every alpha who had lost an omega had gotten their hopes up with each new place, only to be disappointed when the omegas weren’t there. He’d been doubly disappointed when Oda hadn’t found anything at the two places she’d checked with her friends either. He’d thought that maybe by contacting the one police officer that had ever listened to them, he’d helped, maybe, brought them closer to finding the omegas. It hurt to think that maybe even if she did believe them, she couldn’t do anything.

“Don’t look so upset,” Yamaguchi said, trying to sound cheerful. “We’ll find them.”

“What if they aren’t here?”

“Don’t be so negative! And if they aren’t, we’ll just check the next place,” Yamaguchi said.

“What if we check every place and still don’t find the omegas?”

“Ennoshita-san and Shirabu-san are some of the smartest people I know,” Yamaguchi said seriously. “If they think the omegas are in one of these places, they’re probably right.”

“What if they aren’t?”

Yamaguchi sighed. His entire face fell.

“I don’t know. Okay? I just don’t,” he spat, voice quickly shifting from forced cheerful to bitter. “But I have to believe in something, and our betas are a pretty good something to believe in.”

“I’m sorry,” Tobio breathed. He lifted a shaky hand and gently placed it on Yamaguchi’s shoulder. This was how friends comforted each other, right?

“It’s not your fault, it’s just…are you really losing hope?” Yamaguchi asked.

“If I don’t hope I can’t be disappointed,” Tobio said listlessly.

“But how can you go on without hope?” Yamaguchi asked. “How can you think that you’ll get Hinata back at the end of this?”

“I just…go. I don’t stop. I have to get him back. I owe him that since I let him get kidnapped. Even if I never have any hope that we’ll find him, I’ll keep looking for the rest of my life if I have to.”

“Even if you never have any hope of finding him?”

“He promised to defeat me, once, even if it takes him ten or twenty years, even if he has to stand on the world stage to do it. I’ll keep looking for him until that promise comes true.”

“You two have a weird way of telling each other you love each other,” Yamaguchi almost laughed.

“We didn’t love each other then,” Tobio said, although looking back, that wasn’t entirely true in his case. He’d been captivated by Hinata from the very beginning, back when he was still scoffing at the little omega who clearly didn’t know how to use his natural talents. That had only grown as they’d become partners, through anger and tears and blood and sweat, through a fight that had nearly destroyed everything they’d built together. Through it all, Hinata was shining so brightly he nearly blinded Tobio from everything else, but Tobio thought it was worth it.

Even if he had to search ten or twenty years, he was going to find Hinata again.

“Are you two okay?” someone asked them. Yamaguchi and Tobio turned to see Kinoshita and Narita speeding up to walk with them.

After Tobio had gotten in a fight with Kindaichi, the head alphas had decided that every group should include at least one beta from now on. Too many alphas without omegas around seemed to finally be getting to everyone.

“We’re okay,” Yamaguchi assured their senpai. “Apparently Kageyama can search for ten or twenty years for Hinata without actually having any hope of finding him.”

“That’s not what I said,” Tobio protested as Kinoshita and Narita smiled.

“It won’t take us ten or twenty years to find the omegas,” Narita said while Kinoshita nodded. “We’re going to find them soon. There aren’t that many places left to check.”

“Even if the omegas aren’t in any of the places?” Yamaguchi asked. Tobio felt a little bad for maybe transferring some of his doubts to Yamaguchi, who probably had plenty on his own.

“Then we’ll just keep looking,” Kinoshita said. “There’s only so many places they could be, and we’ll keep looking until we find them.”

They fell silent after that, but Tobio felt better with Narita and Kinoshita walking beside them, and Yamaguchi’s face looked less grim. It was starting to feel like maybe there was hope after all. Maybe this time hoping would be worth it.

“Okay, so this place is a little different,” Daichi said when the group finally stopped close to the place they were searching. “It used to be a research lab, which Ennoshita and Shirabu both say makes it a likely place for the omegas to be. However, the door is locked and the windows are boarded up. I’d rather avoid breaking and entering, so first we’ll be splitting into teams to check the outside and see if there’s a way in that doesn’t involve breaking anything. Teams of no less than four just to be safe, and make sure you have at least one beta in your group. Be careful and find everyone else if you find something.”

With that, everyone split off into groups to check the outside of the building. It was essentially a giant cinderblock with boarded up windows and locked doors. Tobio, Yamaguchi, Kinoshita, and Narita crept around the outside; Daichi, Asahi, Tanaka, and Ennoshita not far behind them, looking up higher to try and find a different way in.

Tobio made a point of pressing on every boarded up window, just to see if it would give. None of them did, though. The best they found was a window with a few boards fallen off, which would _maybe_ allow enough space for someone to fit through. They peered in, trying to make out anything in the darkness.

Then a noise floated to them.

Tobio closed his eyes, straining his ears as he pressed them as close to the window as he could get. Was that…a door slamming? And…that was definitely a scream.

… _ya…oya…_

Tobio’s blood ran cold.

_Noya._

He took in a sharp inhale, remembering suddenly to breathe. He caught the faintest hint of a familiar scent.

“We have to get in there now!” he shouted, startling everyone in hearing distance.

“Kageyama…what…?” Daichi started, sprinting over to them.

“I smelled him!”

“Who?”

“Hinata!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I haven't sold you on the YamaKage brotp yet I don't know what else I can do. Also, I'm sincerely sorry Narita and Kinoshita have had such few speaking parts in this fic. I love them dearly and vaguely intended for them to be more than background decorations.   
> In other news, the next chapter will be the last formal chapter, meaning the fic is essentially done as soon as I post it. I will probably post it whenever it's done rather than wait for next Sunday, but it's also going to be at least twice as long as any other chapter I've had since it has to end the fic, so it might actually take me the entire week to write it. I will do all my formal thank you's after that chapter.


	19. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. The final showdown. Hopefully, I've made it clear who is speaking, but in case I didn't: Daichi, Kageyama, Iwaizumi, Yamaguchi, Tendou, Yahaba, Kunimi, Tanaka, Asahi.   
> Thank you all for sticking with it.

It had taken nearly an hour to gather everyone together and circle the building until they found a place where the omegas scent was the strongest. Hopefully it was the closest place to them. Hopefully they were all okay, but Daichi had a bad feeling about what Kageyama claimed to have heard – someone screaming Noya’s name.

“Come on, let’s bust in already!” Tanaka shouted, Ennoshita clinging to his arm to try and calm him down. “What are we waiting for? We all smelled the omegas, we know they’re here!”

“Wait for Kageyama to call his police officer,” Daichi insisted, sighing. He loved Tanaka for his enthusiasm, he did, but it was only making things harder right now. Kageyama looked up, nodding in that serious way of his as he continued his phone conversation. Suga had more than once joked that Kageyama was like a soldier, even with directions that weren’t serious.

“She says she’s about thirty minutes away,” Kageyama said, lowering his phone.

“We should wait for her and her team,” Ushijima said. “It could be dangerous to go in alone.”

“I don’t want to wait anymore,” Asahi said. “My omega’s been missing for weeks and I’m going in to get him alone if I have to.”

“Asahi, wait, Ushijima is right,” Daichi pleaded. “We could get hurt, we could get our _omegas_ hurt. We should wait for Oda-san.”

“You can’t seriously expect us to wait around for thirty minutes?” Iwaizumi asked. Daichi looked around at all the alphas and betas staring at him, determination flickering in their eyes.

“Yamaguchi?” he asked quietly. Yamaguchi bit his lip.

“I understand why you want to wait for the police…but I want Tsukki back,” he stammered, but he stood strong next to Kageyama.

“Kageyama?” Daichi asked, certain of the answer already.

“With respect, I’ll be going in to get Hinata whether you order me to stand down or not,” Kageyama said, looking like he was fully prepared for Daichi to punish him.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Kyoutani growled.

“It’s not like she would be far behind us, even if we do go in now,” Kindaichi reasoned. Daichi sighed.

“Don’t you feel your mate pulling at your bond?” Iwaizumi asked. “You’ve been fading out too, haven’t you? Isn’t it driving you crazy, feeling him so close? We have to go in and get them.”

Daichi looked at Ushijima, who still had a warning in his eyes. Ushijima understood as well as anyone how badly they wanted to get to their omegas. His own omega was in there too, after all, and his fidgeting fingers belied the blank look on his face. But he still looked cautious, still wanted to wait for the police like Daichi did.

“It looks like we’re outvoted,” he told Ushijima. Ushijima just nodded.

“If that’s what everybody else wants,” he said. “But there will probably be danger, and I will protect my omega and my pack as necessary.”

“So will the rest of us,” Daichi said. “Let’s get in there and get our omegas back.”

It wasn’t hard to get the boards off the window and for everyone to climb in. The door leading to the hallway was open, and Daichi and Iwaizumi padded quietly to it, leaving Ushijima to watch and guard the rear. They peeked cautiously into the hallway and, seeing nothing, motioned for the others to follow them. For such a large group, they moved quietly, but the scientist who had taken their omegas could probably smell them coming once they got close enough.

Most of the doors they passed were open, showing the remains of labs. Daichi moved faster, trying to follow his nose to a scent that screamed _Suga Suga Suga_ at him.

Eventually, they got to a door that was both closed and locked. Daichi and Iwaizumi leaned in to listen. They could hear the soft murmur of voices behind the door and shared a significant glance.

_This is it._

Moving as a unit, they back up as far as they could go, then rammed the door with all their strength. It didn’t open, but it caved a little and startled a cry from the room. Daichi heard Kageyama make a noise behind him, probably recognizing the cry as Hinata’s.

Daichi and Iwaizumi backed up again, ramming the door. It shook, shuddered forward, showed glimpses of the room behind, but still held. They backed up one more time, ran forward one last time, and this time the door came crashing down.

The dust flew up, but through it Daichi could see the faces of a group of terrified omegas staring at him. He only had eyes for one of them, though.

Daichi flew forward, leaving everyone else behind, sprinting for Suga. He dropped heavily to his knees and pulled Suga in to his chest. Suga made a small sound of pain, prompting Daichi to pull back.

“It’s just my shoulder. It was dislocated,” Suga said, giving Daichi that soft smile he’d fallen in love with. Daichi made a noise at the back of his throat at the thought of someone hurting his mate, carefully hugging Suga close and avoiding his hurt shoulder.

He felt their mating bond roar back to life at the closeness, all the pain of having been separated being washed away by being back together. He felt Suga gripping his shirt with his good hand, so hard the fabric was tearing, but he didn’t care because he finally, _finally_ had Suga back in his arms.

He was never going to let anything happen to his mate again.

***

Tobio watched with bated breath as Daichi and Iwaizumi rammed the door together. Someone cried out from the room beyond, and Tobio growled when he recognized the voice as Hinata. Daichi and Iwaizumi couldn’t get that door down fast enough. Hinata, his Hinata, was so close. He would be able to hold him and protect him and tell him how sorry he was that he hadn’t protected him.

As soon as they did, Tobio was sprinting in, looking for the familiar head of orange hair through the cloud of dust. It was easy enough to find, and Tobio was sliding on his knees, scooping Hinata into his chest and hugging him as close as he could.

Hinata sobbed into his shoulder, clinging with all his limbs. Tobio nuzzled into Hinata’s scent glands because he couldn’t _help_ it, he’d missed Hinata so much, Hinata who was his best friend and the love of his life.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I should’ve picked up the phone,” Tobio babbled, crushing Hinata as close as possible.

“It’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Hinata sobbed. “You really came for us. Suga said Daichi was worried and that you would all come for us, but I didn’t know if I should believe it. I thought you’d never find us.”

“Of course I came for you,” Tobio growled. “We promised, didn’t we? Ten years, twenty years, as long as it takes, I’m with you. I’m only invincible with you. I’ll protect you, I promise, I’ll protect you from now on.”

“I know.” Hinata couldn’t seem to stop crying, and Tobio distantly noticed that he was crying too. They were tears of relief. Now that he had Hinata in his arms again, everything else would be okay. They’d deal with whatever else came, but now that they were together, nothing could stop them.

They were invincible again.

***

Hajime was the first in the door with Daichi, looking everywhere for the chocolate brown eyes of his mate. Tooru was close, he could smell him, and Hajime followed his nose until the dust cleared enough for him to see where Tooru was.

He knelt down in front of Tooru, reaching out to stroke his thumbs over the cheekbones that stuck out too much, the eyes that looked too big.

“Hajime?” Tooru asked hesitantly, tears or relief filling his eyes.

“I missed you so much, Tooru,” Hajime sighed. He felt their mating bond coming back, not roaring to life like a river as it had the first time, but flowing like an ocean, something that had always been there and had just been hidden with Tooru gone.

Tooru reached his hands up to hold Hajime’s, strong hands worn rough by volleyball. His wrists looked too thin, fingers too spindly, and as Hajime took stock of his starved mate, tears started to roll down Tooru’s cheeks.

“I missed you too, Hajime,” Tooru gasped, entire face scrunching up and turning red at the tears, nose running freely. He looked absolutely terrible and absolutely beautiful.

“God, you’re an ugly crier,” Hajime sobbed, tears starting to fall from his own eyes. He leaned in to hug Tooru, angling his body over Tooru’s to protect him from anything that might come. He finally had his mate back, finally had Tooru, and he was going to protect the omega with everything he had.

If anyone dared threaten Tooru again, Hajime would destroy them without a thought.

***

Tadashi ran in on Kageyama’s heels, He turned about, disoriented by the dust flying around.

“Tsukki!” he called, the only one calling out in the frenzy to find everyone’s omegas. “Tsukki, where are you?”

“Dashi?” a tired voice called back. Tadashi ran to the source of the voice, finding Tsukki curled into a ball on the floor. He dropped to the ground, reaching out to run his fingers through Tsukki’s hair and around his face. Tsukki had never liked going fully into contact, preferring to be eased into it slowly.

Tsukki leaned forward to nuzzle his face into Tadashi’s scent glands, making little whimpering noises as he started to cry. Tadashi started to cry too, tears of relief falling down his face as he wrapped his arms tighter and tighter around Tsukki. Slowly but surely, he arranged their tangled mess of limbs into Tsukki being cradled in his lap.

Tadashi glanced out of the corner of his eye to see Kageyama next to him, Hinata curled protectively into his chest. Kageyama’s eyes reflected raw relief even as tears covered his face. Tadashi let himself and Tsukki fall sideways, catching himself on Kageyama’s shoulder. Kageyama leaned back, resting his head on top of Tadashi’s. The omegas cuddled into their alphas and into each other.

The Karasuno first years all leaned on each other, taking comfort from each other. Tadashi sighed calmly through his tears. His omega was safe. His friends were safe. Everyone was okay, they could go home.

He nuzzled back into Tsukki, moving in unspoken agreement with Kageyama to curl themselves around the omegas in a more protected position between them.

Tadashi might not always be strong enough to protect Tsukki on his own, but that was okay. As a pack, they were stronger. The pack would help him protect his omega when he wasn’t enough on his own, and the pack was ready to fight for any member.

The pack would never let a horror like this happen again.

***

Satori watched with fascinated horror as the door crashed again. The first time had woken him from the doze he’d fallen into, the other omegas asleep from sedatives warm around him. Suddenly, he could smell what was on the other side of the door, and his heart picked up.

_Is this really it? Is he really here?_

The door burst open, and people began running inside. Satori saw Karasuno’s captain run for his mate while Seijoh’s captain did the same. He watched other people run for their omegas, and then…

Wakatoshi was in front of him.

“Satori. Thank god you’re okay,” Wakatoshi sighed, cradling Satori’s face gently and leaning in to press a kiss to his forehead.

“How did you even find us?” Satori asked in a voice that was too small and meant he was probably about to start crying.

“I didn’t do it alone,” Wakatoshi said, gesturing behind him. The first to approach was Kenjirou, sliding in to one side of Satori’s lap as if he’d done it a thousand times instead of never. Tsutomu came next, sitting on Satori’s other side and laying his head on his shoulder. Eita came up to sit behind Kenjirou and lean his head in to press his forehead to Satori’s.

It was an intimate gesture, one that Wakatoshi would have been well within his rights to take as a threat to his omega had it been anyone but Eita. However, it was Eita, and that’s just how he was with Satori, and that was okay.

Taichi came up behind Tsutomu, reaching over to touch Satori’s shoulder and smile with relief. Ohira came up behind Wakatoshi, putting a comforting hand on Satori’s leg, and Hayato did the same.

“What…what are you all doing here?” Satori asked, voice starting to warble as tears filled his eyes. He’d never thought of their team as a pack, not really, and yet here everyone was, touching him casually just as a pack would as if they did it all the time.

“You think I’d let my best friend stay missing?” Eita asked, looking almost offended.

“They all helped us find you, Shirabu especially,” Wakatoshi told him. Kenjirou turned pink.

“I just wanted you back,” he scoffed, tucking his head under Satori’s chin.

“I missed you, Tendou-san,” Tsutomu said. Satori was definitely going to cry, this kid was too sweet. No wonder Satori had always had a soft spot for him.

“We all missed you,” Taichi said.

“It’ll be okay,” Ohira promised.

“We’ll take care of you,” Wakatoshi said, leaning forward to hug Satori and including Kenjirou, Tsutomu, and Eita in the hug. Taichi, Hayato and Ohira piled in on top of him.

Satori started crying in the middle of the group hug because he was so relieved and so _happy._ He finally felt like he had a pack, finally felt loved and wanted. They had all come here looking for _him._ They all wanted him back, wanted to find and protect him.

He felt safe in the middle of the hug, safer than he’d felt in a long time. Wakatoshi kissed his forehead again. It felt like it wouldn’t matter what happened next, Wakatoshi and everyone else would protect him.

Satori sobbed his relief into the shoulders of his pack.

***

Shigeru watched as the alphas flooded into the room, watched Oikawa and Iwaizumi’s tearful reunion, and looked around. Was there really any chance that Kyoutani was here? He hadn’t lost an omega. Shigeru wasn’t his omega, even if he wanted to be. Kyoutani wasn’t a team player, so it was likely he wasn’t here at all.

Then Shigeru saw blonde hair with two racer stripes and eyes like fire coming towards him out of the dust. Kyoutani stared at him, moving slowly as if he was trying not to scare a frightened animal. He kneeled in front of Shigeru and reached out for where Shigeru was curled protectively over his hand.

Shigeru slowly extended his mangled right hand for Kyoutani to see. Kyoutani gently cradled his hand with more care than Shigeru thought his was capable of, his hands warm and soft. It felt nice to have his hand held, and maybe it was a placebo effect, but it hurt less.

Shigeru leaned forward, dropping his head onto Kyoutani’s shoulder. Kyoutani only tensed for a minute before he let Shigeru’s head stay there, taking one hand to rub between Shigeru’s shoulder blades. It felt like every string Shigeru had that was holding him together came undone, and tears started to leak out of his eyes, the first tears that he’d cried.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Kyoutani murmured soothingly. Shigeru started to sob at the pure gentleness Kyoutani was handling him with. “You’re going to be okay. We’ll protect you now, it’s okay.”

Shigeru might not have been Kyoutani’s omega, but he had never wanted to be more than in that moment. He sobbed into Kyoutani’s shoulder as Kyoutani whispered sweet words to him about how he was safe now and nothing was going to happen to him again.

Maybe his crush wasn’t as hopeless as he’d thought. After all, Kyoutani, opposite of team player and staunch loner, had come looking for the omegas. Had come for _him_. With the way Kyoutani was acting, it was clear he wasn’t here for anybody except Shigeru.

Shigeru felt Iwaizumi pull him and Kyoutani into a hug with him and Oikawa. Shigeru only cried harder with relief because they were safe now, he wouldn’t have to fight on his own now, his pack was here to stand with him.

Kyoutani had come to stand with him.

***

Akira watched as everyone in the room was reunited with their pack. His turn came soon enough, though, as Kindaichi ran up to him.

“Kunimi! Are you okay?” Kindaichi asked, hands hovering as if he wanted to pull Akira into a hug but wasn’t sure he was allowed, remembering Akira’s usual aversion to casual touching.

Akira leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Kindaichi’s neck.

“I’m not hurt,” he replied, which was the truth and also not the answer Kindaichi was looking for. It was true that he wasn’t physically hurt. He was not, however, okay.

“It’ll be okay, everything will be okay now,” Kindaichi went on. “Kunimi, I…I’m so sorry. I was _right there_ , I was supposed to protect you, and I froze up. I let him get away with you, and I will never be able to tell you how sorry I am.”

“It’s okay,” Akira said. “He’s strong, it wasn’t your fault.”

Kindaichi pulled back to look at him, and all the hurt Akira was feeling after the scientist had called him useless started to fade a little bit when Kindaichi looked at him like that. Like he was the most precious treasure in the world.

Kindaichi had always looked at him like that.

Akira tucked himself back into Kindaichi, let Kindaichi curl himself protectively around him as if he were Akira’s alpha. Truthfully, Akira wouldn’t mind if that were true. Kindaichi gently stroked his hair, covering his entire body and tucking them both into the protective hug that Iwaizumi, Oikawa, Kyoutani, and Yahaba had formed. Matsukawa, Hanamaki, and Watari joined them.

Akira didn’t cry, but he didn’t blame all the others he saw crying. The relief he felt could be enough to bring anyone to tears. He was safe now, actually safe, and it was incredible.

He was safe.

***

Ryuu walked in to see cuddle piles forming, and damned if he wasn’t going to join in. Pulling Ennoshita along with him, he walked right up to Daichi and Suga.

“Come on, you two, your kids need you too,” he said lightly, in a voice that was just a little too rough. Ennoshita patted him on the arm. Daichi and Suga scooted over to merge with the first years, and Narita and Kinoshita had already curled protectively around Hinata and Tsukishima.

Ryuu and Ennoshita curled up around the first years and Suga, helping Daichi shield them all from everything. They would have to get up and get out in a minute, but for now, everything felt all right. Their pack was back together.

“Well, isn’t this a touching reunion?” a voice asked. Ryuu whipped his head around to see Himura Isao standing before them. “All the packs together again. Unfortunately, I’m not done borrowing your omegas.”

“You won’t touch them,” Daichi snapped furiously, standing up. Ryuu and Ennoshita curled more protectively around Suga.

“Back away,” Iwaizumi said, standing in front of his pack as the betas shielded Oikawa. Ushijima said nothing, but looked menacingly at Himura.

“I’m not done with my experiment yet,” Himura said, releasing a maelstrom of dominant pheromones into the air. Even Ryuu, as an alpha, felt the need to submit, and Kageyama, who had stood up as another barrier between the omegas and Himura, staggered and whined at the blast. “You see, this experiment is for the best. I’m improving humanity. These omegas will be the mothers of a strong new race. Don’t you understand how important this is?”

Ryuu wanted to tell Himura exactly where he could stick his experiment, but the scent wouldn’t even let him up off the ground. The best he could hope to do was shield Suga and Ennoshita as long as possible.

“Chikara…shit…” he gasped.

“You won’t be doing anything more to these omegas,” a cold female voice snapped. Ryuu looked up to see Oda holding a gun on Himura. “Stand down, now. You’re under arrest for kidnapping and abuse of underage omegas.”

“You’ll be the one standing down,” Himura said, finally sounding angry. Another wave of scent blasted through the room, making Ryuu cower again. But although every alpha, beta, and omega in the room was being forced to submit, even the other police officers, Oda stood her ground with only a flinch. “You’re nothing but a beta. You _will_ bow to me.”

Oda shot him in the leg.

“I am Oda Kaede,” she snapped furiously. “I am a daughter of a female alpha, and I bow to no one.”

Himura was down on his knees, staring up at her with awe.

“This is Oda,” she said into a walking talkie. “I have the suspect and the omegas in custody.” An incoherent reply sounded, and she rolled her eyes. “Well then get down here! We don’t have all day. And send an ambulance too, some of these kids look like they should go to the hospital.”

She looked around the room.

“Is everybody okay?” she asked, voice softening. A chorus of _yes_ answered her. She smiled, walking around Himura to handcuff him.

It was over.

***

Asahi had been standing in the middle of the room awkwardly ever since they had kicked down the door, looking desperately for Noya.

But Noya was nowhere.

“Where is he?” he finally asked in a quiet voice. Every omega raised a hand to point through the door. Asahi couldn’t get out fast enough. He followed his nose, every thought for Noya’s safety. He remembered that the scientist was known for experiments that involved impregnating omegas, and he hoped desperately that nothing terrible had happened to his boyfriend.

He burst through a door across the hall. It was clearly a lab, with Noya strapped to the table in the middle, a bandage on his arm.

“Yuu,” Asahi gasped. Noya turned to face him, eyes widening before his face crumpled into tears. “Yuu, oh my god, thank god.”

Asahi looked frantically for the key to Noya’s cuffs, finding them and freeing him. Noya was up in an instant, burying himself into Asahi’s chest and sobbing full force.

“Noya, are you okay?” Asahi asked, dreading the answer. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“He took my blood,” Noya said in a whisper. “But other than that he didn’t hurt me. He was about to. If you’d been another hour later…”

Asahi crushed Noya to his chest, not wanting to hear the end of that sentence.

“It’ll be okay,” he promised fiercely. “I’ll protect you. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll stay with you.”

“Do you promise?” Noya should never sound that small.

“Of course I promise. I’m here for as long as you want me,” Asahi vowed.

“What if I want you forever?”

Asahi looked down at Noya, and there was no hint of a joke.

“I’m sorry,” Noya continued. “I didn’t know how to ask you to be mine forever, but I want you forever. I’m not going to want anyone else. So please, Asahi, stay with me forever.”

“Noya…Yuu. Are you asking me to be your mate?” Asahi asked, hardly daring to believe it.

“Yes.”

“You can’t have honestly expected me to say no, right? As soon as we settle everything from this, yes, Yuu, I will be your mate.”

Noya buried his head into Asahi’s chest, letting Asahi pick him up and carry him back to the others. He let Asahi field all the questions as to whether Noya was okay. They all walked out of that horrible building, leaving it behind, watching Oda Kaede shove Himura Isao into a police car with a look of grim satisfaction on her face. All they had left to do now was to heal.

It was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm crying I stayed up all night to finish this and I have to go to work in an hour. I will be writing a short epilogue in the next few days, and then the main fic will be officially done. This story is far from over, however, as I have many follow up oneshots to write that will address all the healing that needs to happen.   
> Finally, to those who commented often: I see your usernames and I remember you. Your comments were what I looked forward to every week while writing. To everyone who subscribed, commented, left kudos, following this story to the end: thank you from the bottom of my heart for indulging me.   
> As always, my tumblr: [ @musicprincess655](http://musicprincess655.tumblr.com/)


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kaede is not a character that I intended to add to this fic. She's not in my outline. She was very much born and brought to life over the course of writing this. Luckily, most of you seem to like her, so here's an epilogue to wrap up her story since I don't intend to write a oneshot for her.

“You know, you’re not nearly so impressive now that all the drugs to make your scent stronger have worked out of your system,” Kaede said, lightly ignoring the glare Himura was sending her way. “How’s your knee doing, by the way?”

“Healing nicely, thank you,” Himura said stiffly. “Are you really a daughter of a female alpha?”

“I’m the one asking the questions,” Kaede said flippantly, waving the question away. “So tell me about this experiment of yours.”

“I won’t tell you anything,” Himura scoffed.

“Well, I don’t actually need much.” Kaede let some steel leak into her voice. “Between all the notes we found at your lab and the testimonies of all the omegas, we have plenty to put you away for a long time. What I’m really interested in is how you got genetic material from a female alpha.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Himura grinned at her.

“Actually, yes.” Kaede resisted the urge to kick him in the knee. “My father is the only known female alpha in Japan right now, so I do have some interest into how you got genetic material that doesn’t match her DNA.”

“Aren’t you supposed to offer me a plea deal?” Himura asked. Kaede shrugged.

“I’m not really interested in offering you a plea deal, and neither is anyone else. This was a highly publicized kidnapping, we’d rather make an example out of you.”

“So why are you even here?” Kaede smiled in a way she’d long learned was scary.

“To gloat, I guess. Although if you’re ever interested in making my job easier and telling me which female alpha you took genetic material from, let me know.”

“Wait!” Himura called. “If you’re really the child of a female alpha, don’t you understand how important you are? You’re one of the first of your kind. You could be the key to unlocking the secrets to making our race stronger. You have to be studied!” Kaede rolled her eyes.

“Please. As if I haven’t heard that before,” she said. “I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing here. I’m not a science experiment.”

Kaede swung out of the room.

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to ask him?” Suzuki berated her. Kaede sighed. Her aging partner…well, she kind of hated him right now. It hadn’t been fun seeing all those kids look so terrified, and they never would have found them if she hadn’t taken matters into her own hands. She’d had to rely on _high school kids_ to help her solve this case, lacking the resources from her own department because Suzuki kept insisting she was jumping to conclusions.

“Do we actually need anything else?” Kaede snapped. When she’d first gotten here, she wouldn’t have dreamed of being rude to a senpai, but he’d worn her patience thin. “He’s going to get at least a couple life sentences for everything he’s done. This case is a slam dunk.”

“There could be more. We should find out about the other female alpha. What if she’s in Japan? What if Japan has another female alpha?”

“You act like we couldn’t figure that out on our own,” Kaede said. “As if him telling us is the only way we’ll ever find her. What do you think our job is?”

“Oda! Suzuki!” a voice called. Kaede turned to see the police chief standing there with his arms crossed, glaring at both of them. “Oda, I’d like to see you in my office. And Suzuki,” to the man who was smiling smugly at her, “you have no right to be lecturing her. She’s the one who cracked this case and she did it without any of your help.”

Suzuki looked abashed as Kaede stepped into the chief’s office. A beta woman stood there, waiting for them both.

“Oda Kaede?” she asked pleasantly. Kaede nodded. “My name is Honda Yuki. I’m the head of the Detective Bureau. We’re impressed with what you’ve done with this case, the initiative you took. You’d be a great fit for the Detective Bureau.”

Kaede looked between her and the chief.

“Are you offering me a job?” she asked. Honda nodded. “I’d be honored.”

“I don’t like the feeling that we’re rewarding you,” the chief said. “You may have cracked this case, but what you did was insubordination.”

“That’s exactly what will make you a great detective,” Honda insisted. “You have a huntress’s instincts and you don’t bow to alphas. I’ve seen your academy scores as well. Top of your class, even took some advanced classes. You had remarkable scores. You’re intelligent and know what to do with it. You’d be welcome at the Detective Bureau.”

Kaede smiled at her.

“After all,” she continued, “who’s going to keep this world running if not us betas?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be doing follow up oneshots to deal with all the healing that needs to happen. I really should do Asanoya first (they need it the most) but I'm probably going to do Ushiten first because my friend pkmnshippings is going to read this soon and will kill me if her son Tendou isn't happy when she's done.


End file.
